Actor Pankaj Tripathi
Actor Pankaj Tripathi is happy that his 2017 release, Newton, was screened for polling officers in Bihar ahead of election duty. He says the Rajkummar Rao-starrer is the kind of film that resonates till date, especially with those who are on election duty.
Amit V. Masurkar’s Newton was India’s official entry at the Oscars 2018. The film, which also featured Anjali Patil and Raghubir Yadav, was about a government officer, played by Rao, who is assigned polling duty in a politically volatile area where Naxalite attacks are rampant. Tripathi played an assistant commandant of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who along with his unit, has the task of providing security at the polling booth.
Recently, Tripathi heard from a local zonal officer in Chapra that the film has remained a source of inspiration for many election duty officers and polling agents in the run-up to the ongoing Bihar elections.
“One can never know on their own of the reach that films have unless one comes across stories of how they’ve impacted someone. I spoke to an officer who, while training 2500 election officers, held a screening of Newton. It’s the kind of film that resonates with people till date, especially those who try to escape election duty,” the actor said.
Tripathi added when the screening was over, it encouraged the polling officers to report to work.
“Imagine the effect of a film that released more than three years ago! Till date that’s the film on my repertoire that inspires me to work harder and inspires people to contribute in creating a better society,” he added.
