'Office Office' will stay relevant for years to come: Pankaj Kapur

Pankaj Kapur says his show “Office Office”, a satirical look at the corruption in government offices, will stay “evergreen” as the issues it addressed still exist everywhere. Kapur played common man Mussaddi Lal Tripathi in the show that aired in 2001 and was lauded for its projection of people’s woes in government offices.

It is now among the classic shows that have made a comeback on television, which is falling back on older hits to fill the spot as shooting stays suspended on new ones due to the coronavirus led lockdown in the country. Kapur said "Office Office" was one of his most popular shows and he is glad to see it return on TV.

“It is delightful that one of your shows that was extremely popular and did very well with the audiences by creating social awareness through humour, is back on television. Whatever entertainment it can provide to people in such times, I think that’s wonderful,” Kapur told PTI in an interview.

For Kapur, the show is special because of its theme and the experience he had while working on it.

“It has always had a soft spot in my heart because we had wonderful time working for about four and four-and-half years on this project. The show created social awareness with humour, which is its asset. It'll stay evergreen for years to come because the problems that it talked about are there everywhere. We can talk about it for years."

Kapur was supported by strong actors such as Sanjay Mishra, Deven Bhojani, Manoj Pahwa, Hemant Pandey, Asawari Joshi and Eva Grover on the show, people who became family for those years. The 65-year-old actor said every day was special while working on the show.

“The fact that we had an excellent team of actors and a director, who brought everybody together and the writer, who was providing good content, so every day was special to us. All of us would get together and we all became like a family for those three-four years.”

Many shows of the past have made a comeback on TV during the lockdown, but Kapur said the return of these shows should not be restricted to crisis situations.

“The sad part is it (shows comeback) is happening because of the circumstances we are caught up in right now. The shows had certain quality in terms of content and presentation. They should have been brought back earlier and they should be brought back later as well. So at a time when new shows are not being made, people are able to see what was interestingly done earlier.”

The actor, who is happy to see his wife Supriya Pathak’s popular TV serial “Khichdi” making a comeback, said it is a delightful show and he used to enjoy watching it very much. Kapur said some of his old shows such as “Zabaan Sambhalke”, “Philips Top 10”, can also be brought back and audiences can watch and have fun.

“I am not saying only light-hearted shows (should be back) because we were talking about humour which is why (I mentioned those shows). Otherwise any good show that was made at that point and this includes those shows of which I was not part of. Like ‘Buniyaad’ was a wonderfully made series. Gulzar Sahab's work, when he made a serial on Premchand ji, some of that work can be shown.”