After more than a decade away from the proscenium, Pankaj Tripathi is returning to where his artistic journey first took shape—the theatre. The actor is set to make a special comeback with the musical comedy stage play Lailaaj, marking his first appearance on stage in 12 years. Though his role is a cameo, the significance of the moment runs far deeper than screen time.
What makes Lailaaj especially meaningful is that it brings together Pankaj Tripathi’s personal and professional worlds. The play is produced under Roopkatha Rangmanch, a homegrown theatre initiative helmed by Tripathi and his wife Mridula Tripathi. Adding another intimate layer to the production, the play will also feature their daughter Aashi Tripathi, who is set to share the stage with her father for the very first time.
Written and directed by noted theatre practitioner Faiz Mohammed Khan, Lailaaj blends humour, music, and emotion, staying true to the essence of Indian theatre while embracing a contemporary tone. The play opens on 8 February at Rangsharda, Mumbai—an apt venue for a story rooted in live performance and shared experience.
For Tripathi, the return is less about nostalgia and more about reconnecting with the discipline that shaped him as an actor. While cinema has brought him widespread recognition, theatre remains his creative anchor—demanding immediacy, vulnerability, and complete presence in every moment.
Sharing the stage with Aashi, however, is what gives Lailaaj its most profound emotional weight. Rather than positioning himself as a mentor or guide, Tripathi views the collaboration as a meeting of two performers discovering the craft together. The stage, in this sense, becomes a space not of instruction but of mutual growth—where the roles of father and daughter dissolve into that of fellow actors responding to the same moment.
With Lailaaj, Pankaj Tripathi reaffirms his belief in theatre as a living, breathing form of storytelling—one that thrives on connection, honesty, and shared joy. As the curtains rise at Rangsharda, audiences will witness more than a celebrated actor’s return to the stage; they will see a family’s love for performance unfold in real time, grounded in tradition and illuminated by personal truth.
