Delhi-born, South Korea-based Anupam Tripathi, who plays Pakistani migrant Ali Abdul in Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’, is “only just coming to terms” with the phenomenal success of the show, according to Variety.com.
Tripathi’s character is one of the hundreds of deep-in-debt people roped into a deadly contest based on Korean playground games. “We felt that it will be received well, but when it became a phenomenon and sensation, it was not expected – I was not prepared,” Tripathi told ‘Variety’.
Tripathi grew up primarily interested in music until he chanced upon a stage production of ‘Spartacus’. He played a slave in the production and eventually joined the Delhi-based Behroopia theatre group. There, he was mentored by the late playwright Shahid Anwar.
He moved to South Korea in 2010 after winning a scholarship from the Korea National University of Arts. He joined the undergraduate program there.
Before ‘Squid Game’, Anupam has featured many Korean TV shows and films. He made his acting debut with the Korean film ‘Ode to My Father’ in 2014. His other projects include the popular Korean series ‘Descendants of the Sun’ and ‘Hospital Playlist’ and 2021 film ‘Space Sweepers’.
Anupma Tripathi’s Ali is the player No 199 in Squid Game. He is a migrant worker from Pakistan, who stays in Seoul with his wife and baby. However, things become difficult for him when his employers refuse to pay his wages. As a result, he agrees to join the deadly ‘Squid Game’.
