As we celebrate Pankaj Kapur’s birthday today, one cannot help but revisit the character that became a mirror to millions of Indian lives- Mussadilal Tripathi from the iconic sitcom Office Office.
Some shows and characters get etched in our memories forever and Rajiv Mehra’s cult classic Office Office definitely has to be one of them if you’re a 90s or early 2000s kid. Watched religiously by my parents over dinner during the early 2000s, I somehow still remember being pulled towards the troubled world of Mussadilal, essayed by the brilliant Pankaj Kapur, as he navigated the unbothered ‘babus’ of the country’s government offices, as the satire captured daily frustrations of the common Indian and the slacking sarkari offices – experiences that are somehow still relevant today.
Set amongst bulky office equipment, landline telephones and bundles of files and stacks of documents, watching Mussadilal helplessly queue up for hours only to be tossed to another department that too after handing little ‘gifts’ under the table, became my introduction to the systemic realities of India, and maybe subconsciously played a huge role in shaping my perception of how things in my country work, especially with Shuklaji’s (Sanjay Mishra) iconic dialogue – “Aam aadmi rishwat bhi deta hai, aur thank you bhi bolta hai.”
