So much of our lives passes by in front of a screen. Work, education, entertainment — it’s all happening through screens. For Pankaj Tripathi, that just won’t do. The actor wants us to put our phones down and go back to the oldest form of storytelling — theatre. 

In November 2025, Tripathi founded the theatre company, Roopkatha Rangmanch, with his wife Mridula Tripathi. Their first production, Lailaaj, premièred in 2025, marking the actor’s return to the stage after a 12-year hiatus. Since then, Lailaaj has attracted a wide range of viewers; some arriving because they have admired his films, others because they are theatre enthusiasts. Either way, Tripathi is happy that Mumbai is giving theatre a thought. “Many people come because they know me from films. For some, this is their first theatre experience. Afterwards, they tell me they never imagined theatre could be like this. People sometimes assume serious theatre must be difficult to understand,” he told mid-day.