I wanted to play the devar and bhai kind of characters on TV but was rejected in auditions: Paritosh Tripathi

Hailing from a small town in UP, Deoria, the journey has been quite a long one for actor Paritosh Tripathi. "The journey from a city like

Deoria

in UP to Mumbai in itself sounds so long, which actually has been long too. Being an outsider it was difficult for me to pitch myself as an actor. I did theatre in UP and then moved to Delhi for further studies where I did a lot of theatre and then in 2009 I moved to Mumbai. But what helped me stay put in Mumbai was that I had shut all doors to go back to my hometown. I never had plan B for myself so I had to do something to survive in the entertainment industry. And so I kept on struggling tile I tasted fame," he shared.
Known for his comedy timings in anchoring, Paritosh reveals that hosting did not happen to him by choice. "Anchoring happened to me by chance and not by choice. When I did a show called Mad in India with Sunil Grover, which did not do well on TV, a channel person spotted me and when he was in another channel on which a popular dance reality show for kids was about to be aired, he recommended me for a few days. I was on trial for a few episodes as an anchor. And then there was no looking back and I have been an anchor for the show for the past four seasons," he says, adding, "The reason I do not mind

anchoring

over acting is because I still get to enact several characters while hosting a show. I am lucky that I have neither been slotted as an anchor nor as a comedian in the industry. Not many people know that I wanted to play the devar and bhai kind of characters on TV but was rejected in auditions and now I don't want to do such roles anymore. Now I feel happy that I never did any saas-bahu shows in my career."
Not many know that Paritosh loves writing too. "Acting is my first love while writing is my extra marital affair. I always loved writing from childhood but I never told anyone. Even as a host, when I used to say shayaris they were mostly written by me. One day I read several of my shers to Geeta di (choreographer Geeta Kapur) who asked me to record them all in a book," he shared.