Mridula Tripathi and Pankaj Tripathi : Endearing love story!!

Pankaj Tripathi is a fantastic Indian actor. His versatile acting skills made all of us fall in love with him. His journey is also inspirational for many of us. All and sundry know him for the antagonistic role in the Gangs of Wasseypur film series. Lets know about Endearing Pankaj Tripathi – Mridula love story.

M is the wife of Pankaj Tripathi and she is a teacher by profession. We all know Pankaj and Mridula as husband and wife, but majority of us don’t know about arduous and endearing love story of this gracious couple. This cheerful couple has been married for 17 years and counting, and has a daughter named Aashi. So, lets throw some light over this beautiful love story and know little more about the love. 

How and where did Pankaj Tripathi meet Mridula for first time?

In an interview with better India, Mridula revealed the story how and where did she meet Pankaj and how this journey started. It was on the 24 May 1993 and she aforementioned that “It was my elder brother’s Tilak (engagement ceremony). I was on my way to a tiny room on the terrace to get dressed when this boy with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a beard crossed me. Those eyes would go on to follow me during the entire function.”

At that time Mridula was in nineth grade and Pankaj was two-year senior. Throwing light on the first meet Pankaj said “It was my sister’s wedding and I saw her on the balcony of the terrace and thought to myself, ‘This is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.’ And I did not even know who she was, or what her name was, at the time.”

Majority of us don’t believe on concept of love at first sight and term it as ‘aisa bas filmo me hota he’. Here we see the real love at first sight. Its true this happens in the films but this story is far more than that, it’s a film itself, a real-life film. So, let’s step into the real film adding on to this meet/introduction story.

The rising action – into Pankaj Tripathi – Mridula love story: 

Back into the 90’s, these days were not easy for a couples to communicate as we experience as of now. So only means of contact was via writing the letters. 

Purportedly, in a span of five months Pankaj use to visit his sister’s house at least once, so that would give them a chance to spend quality of the time together. Adding on to this Mridula says “I would leave for school in the morning and could meet him only after dinner. That was our time. We would sit and talk, sometimes till early morning. We both loved reading and had so much to talk about the books, novels, characters, stories, and the writers.” 

Mridula- Breaking up with someone else to marry Pankaj: 

Writing letters and visiting the Mridula’s house continued the Pankaj Tripathi – Mridula love story, for almost eight years. Soon the time came, this was the time when her parents found a marriage alliance for Mridula. 

Finally, the time came Mridula says, “Pankaj confessed my brother and sister-in-law to the prospective groom’s place. He came and told me that it was a good match for me and I would surely get much of ‘Bhautik Sukh.’ I did not know so much Hindi back then and asked what that meant, and he said ‘material happiness.’ That’s when I felt that I was losing something very precious.”

After that Pankaj had to leave the place with aching heart. As because he needs to go at National School of Drama (NSD) to study. So, while in this span Mridula came up with an idea to break her marriage with someone else to marry Pankaj, Mridula says, “Only I know the lengths that I’d gone to break that marriage. And now the most important dilemma was communicating this news to Pankaj.”

After few days, on 24 December finally Pankaj spoke with all members of the family and Mridula just a day before her birthday. After the long wait for months, they got a chance to speak with each other. She says, “He wished me, and I reminded him that it was the next day. I tried really hard to convey my feelings to him, but he didn’t understand. It took a long explanation for him to finally get the drift.”

Era of Long-distance relationship: 

Now a days the long-distance relationships seem quite hard. And dating is quite common for today’s generation. Back then, dating was a peculiar among the society and people. But the love finds it way out from amidst condition, they managed to keep their love and spark alive in their long-distance relationship. The only means to keep their love alive was via letters, that too once in 10 days and the phone call- a fixed at fixed time around 8:00 PM. 

Happy starting – Pankaj and Mridula finally got married: 

After the 12 years of courtship and lots for struggle, the couple Pankaj and Mridula finally got married on 15 January 2004. Mridula being the Brahmin sister of Pankaj’s brother-in-law, it was against their caste to marry in a family. Yet, they sorted it out and have been happily married for 17 years now and still counting. That’s the reasons I said this story is far more than a story of film. A perfect story, love at first sight-tragedy-struggles and a happy ending towards new journey.