Pitabash Tripathy (extreme left), who hails from a village near Nayagarh, on the sets of a Hindi film. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 24: Stories of the struggle to succeed in the Hindi film industry are always motivating when they end on a positive note. Talented youngster Pitabash Tripathy’s tale is no different.

The 27-year-old actor is enjoying good returns in the form of a number of big banner Hindi films after his three-year long consistent efforts to get a foothold in Bollywood.

Pitabash will be seen in major roles in five upcoming films this year, including Sirish Kunder’s Joker. While it was the 2010 release Mirch by Vinay Shukla that he signed first, it was the 2009 comedy 99 and a brief role in 3 Idiots that introduced him to the industry.

“I had always wished to be an actor. After finishing my engineering in 2005, I made it to the FTII, Pune. With no godfathers in Mumbai, it is the FTII tag that has helped me to prove my mettle,” says Pitabash.

“The small cameo in 3 Idiots was a great booster for me since that let me work with my idol Aamir Khan. On the other hand, Vinay Shukla helped me explore my acting skills in Mirch, where I had played five different roles,” he says.

Hailing from a small village Deuli near Nayagarh, Pitabash completed his schooling and college education in Bhubaneswar. He had to take diction classes in Hindi and Urdu to tune himself for the film industry.

“It was patience and hard work that allowed me to keep trying at different production houses before getting opportunities to show my talent,” he says. However, he feels, first it was the period of struggle in Mumbai and now assignments that are keeping him busy and away from home.

“I visited Orissa two months ago after a gap of three years. I miss my family a lot, but this is the time to work hard and I’m enjoying my work,” says Pitabash.

He is working in both parallel and mainstream cinema. The upcoming films for the young actor include I Am Kalam, Na Woh Hoti Na Yeh Hota, Alaap and Shor In The City that will be releasing this week. “Shor In The City is based on the rat race in Mumbai among different sections of people. As one of the three leads (the other two being played by Tushar Kapoor and Nikhil Dwivedi), I portray an aspiring petty criminal who wants to make it big in the crime world,” says Pitabash.

The actor is also delighted to be playing an important part in Joker and Dibakar Bannerjee’s Shanghai.

“Joker is a sci-fi movie about aliens while Shanghai, like Dibakar’s other movies, strikes a balance between comedy and reality,” says Pitabash.

The actor was in Bhubaneswar on Saturday for a event for one of his forthcoming films.