Pankaj Tripathi knows he was never thought of as traditional hero material, but he is also aware that he is considered a good actor.

“I was never thought of as hero material. I am an actor, and I am considered a good one at that,” said Tripathi, adding that his latest film, the digitally-dropped “Kaagaz” gave him a character that amalgamated the idea of heroism with the notion of stardom.

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“What the film does is it converges the ideas of heroism and the existent star system of the industry,” he explained.

“Kaagaz” is based on a true story and casts Tripathi as a man who is officially declared dead, and must wage his war with a corrupt system to prove that he is still alive.

He considers the film a personal achievement because it challenges the conventional idea of the hero.

“The film’s idea redefines the heroism of Hindi Films. This is an underdog story, the story of a man who fights the system. It is presented by a leading superstar (Salman Khan), too. But the film puts the spotlight on a common man and his predicament. It reaches people on a one-on-one level,” said Tripathi.

He is happy that actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik “thought of giving an actor like me the chance to shoulder a film single-handedly”.

“It’s easy to shove us into character parts but here’s a film that thought me worthy of pulling through a project all on my own. That itself is a gamechanging move and I hope this film gives more producers the faith to follow suit,” he said.