/images/ppid_59c68470-image-176407753443391907.webp)
What is the story about?
At 61, Piyush Mishra carries decades of art, rage, restlessness, and zidd (stubbornness) inside him, but the fire hasn’t dimmed. If anything, it has learnt to burn cleaner. “Agar aap kaam nahi karoge to kuchh nahi hoga (If you don’t work, nothing will happen)," he told CNBC TV18 in a wide-ranging conversation.
Mishra has never been able to sit still. Not in NSD, not in Mumbai, not on stage, not in life. Idleness, for him, is a kind of death. Maybe that’s why he has been all things at once — actor, writer, poet, lyricist, singer, and composer.
It is from that same restlessness that his memoir, Tumhari Aukaat Kya Hai, Piyush Mishra?, first published in Hindi in 2023, was born. Now, with HarperCollins releasing its English translation, the book is meeting an entirely new readership.
Finding your worth and being brutally honest
Mishra says he wrote the memoir in the third person because the first person felt too flattering. “Laga main apne aap ko zyada glorify kar raha hoon (It felt like I was glorifying myself too much)," he admits. This led him to question himself, "Tumhari aukaat kya hai, Piyush Mishra (What is even your worth)." And that's when he gave birth to Santap Trivedi, his alter-ego, who takes the reader on a journey of his art, and people associated in the tana-bana of his life.
Even though Mishra tried to be "brutally honest," the book is deliberately stripped of names — especially the names of women — not out of secrecy but protection. Several parts of his life have been left out because they "cannot be told."
Also Read: ‘Find me an AI that’s had a heartbreak’: Raghu Dixit on creativity, India’s changing music scene & more
"Main us waqt sirf ek actor tha (Back then, I was only an actor)," he says of his early days, when he walked out of NSD believing the world would rearrange itself for him. "NSD mein to aap raja hote ho… bahar aao to pata chalta hai asli aukaat kya hai (In NSD you’re treated like a king… once you step outside, you realise your real worth)."
He remembers that first brush with failure not as a tragedy, but as a necessary unmasking. Stardom inside the campus, he says, evaporated the moment he stepped outside.
The innate fire and rebellion
He's also an actor who could make silence feel explosive. But he insists much of his fire is janmsiddh (inborn). “Pichhle janam ka lagta hai (Feels like it’s from a past life)," he shrugs, recalling how, as a child, he stood before a mirror, slipping into characters long before he had the vocabulary to name the impulse.
Rebellion began young, too. And yet, for all the early storms, Mishra insists he is softer now. “Ab pichhle 5–6 saal mein samajh aaya hai ki bina ladayi kiye bhi kaise jeeya ja sakta hai (In the last 5–6 years, I’ve learned how to live without fighting)." The rebel remains, but it has matured into something quieter, the kind that simply says, “Yeh main nahi karunga (This I will not do) and walks away. "
Revisiting iconic songs
This is the man behind Aarambh, Ik Bagal, Duniya, Sheher Hamara Sota Hai and Husna. On Duniya, being inspired by Guru Dutt's Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To, Mishra says the idea came from filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. He just expanded Dutt’s take on the concept. This is something he keeps on doing with the current work of art, be it of Gulzar or Javed Akhtar.
On Husna – the song which he announced after the Pulwama terror attack of 2019 and said he would not sing till Pakistan took responsibility but later changed his mind – Mishra said it was loved universally. “There is also no point in inquilaab (revolution) that I will not sing it till when Pakistan does not take responsibility," he reflected.
“It receives love from everyone. Everybody likes it, be it Indians or Pakistanis ,” Mishra said. “I thought it would receive a lot of backlash that I continue to sing it so much.”
"Khamakha inquilaab ki zaroorat nahi hai (There is no need of a revolution without any cause, it is futile) is what I realised," he stressed.
AI's impact on art
About AI’s increasing intrusion into music and cinema, Mishra is unambiguous. “Bilkul hogi (Of course it will be)," he says, on whether human-ness will be affected. “Har cheez artificial ho jaayegi to insaan kahaan jayega? (If everything becomes artificial, where will the human go?)"
He doesn’t position himself as a crusader, just a man drawing a boundary. “Main sirf bol sakta hoon ki main nahi karunga (All I can say is that I won’t do it)."
'Don't die and work continuously'
What he will always chase, though, is work. Creation. Movement. Anything but stillness. Even his advice to young artists circles back to this unshakeable belief. “Bas yeh hai ki maro mat, don’t die. Agar aap kaam nahi karoge toh (if you don't work) you’re almost like a corpse.” According to him, stagnation is death, and movement is the only antidote. To sit idle is to decay.
And Piyush Mishra, it seems, has no intention of becoming still.
Also Read: As 'Delhi Crime' returns for Season 3, Rasika Dugal talks about working hours and the women she plays
Mishra has never been able to sit still. Not in NSD, not in Mumbai, not on stage, not in life. Idleness, for him, is a kind of death. Maybe that’s why he has been all things at once — actor, writer, poet, lyricist, singer, and composer.
It is from that same restlessness that his memoir, Tumhari Aukaat Kya Hai, Piyush Mishra?, first published in Hindi in 2023, was born. Now, with HarperCollins releasing its English translation, the book is meeting an entirely new readership.
Finding your worth and being brutally honest
Mishra says he wrote the memoir in the third person because the first person felt too flattering. “Laga main apne aap ko zyada glorify kar raha hoon (It felt like I was glorifying myself too much)," he admits. This led him to question himself, "Tumhari aukaat kya hai, Piyush Mishra (What is even your worth)." And that's when he gave birth to Santap Trivedi, his alter-ego, who takes the reader on a journey of his art, and people associated in the tana-bana of his life.
Even though Mishra tried to be "brutally honest," the book is deliberately stripped of names — especially the names of women — not out of secrecy but protection. Several parts of his life have been left out because they "cannot be told."
Also Read: ‘Find me an AI that’s had a heartbreak’: Raghu Dixit on creativity, India’s changing music scene & more
"Main us waqt sirf ek actor tha (Back then, I was only an actor)," he says of his early days, when he walked out of NSD believing the world would rearrange itself for him. "NSD mein to aap raja hote ho… bahar aao to pata chalta hai asli aukaat kya hai (In NSD you’re treated like a king… once you step outside, you realise your real worth)."
He remembers that first brush with failure not as a tragedy, but as a necessary unmasking. Stardom inside the campus, he says, evaporated the moment he stepped outside.
The innate fire and rebellion
He's also an actor who could make silence feel explosive. But he insists much of his fire is janmsiddh (inborn). “Pichhle janam ka lagta hai (Feels like it’s from a past life)," he shrugs, recalling how, as a child, he stood before a mirror, slipping into characters long before he had the vocabulary to name the impulse.
Rebellion began young, too. And yet, for all the early storms, Mishra insists he is softer now. “Ab pichhle 5–6 saal mein samajh aaya hai ki bina ladayi kiye bhi kaise jeeya ja sakta hai (In the last 5–6 years, I’ve learned how to live without fighting)." The rebel remains, but it has matured into something quieter, the kind that simply says, “Yeh main nahi karunga (This I will not do) and walks away. "
Revisiting iconic songs
This is the man behind Aarambh, Ik Bagal, Duniya, Sheher Hamara Sota Hai and Husna. On Duniya, being inspired by Guru Dutt's Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To, Mishra says the idea came from filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. He just expanded Dutt’s take on the concept. This is something he keeps on doing with the current work of art, be it of Gulzar or Javed Akhtar.
On Husna – the song which he announced after the Pulwama terror attack of 2019 and said he would not sing till Pakistan took responsibility but later changed his mind – Mishra said it was loved universally. “There is also no point in inquilaab (revolution) that I will not sing it till when Pakistan does not take responsibility," he reflected.
“It receives love from everyone. Everybody likes it, be it Indians or Pakistanis ,” Mishra said. “I thought it would receive a lot of backlash that I continue to sing it so much.”
"Khamakha inquilaab ki zaroorat nahi hai (There is no need of a revolution without any cause, it is futile) is what I realised," he stressed.
AI's impact on art
About AI’s increasing intrusion into music and cinema, Mishra is unambiguous. “Bilkul hogi (Of course it will be)," he says, on whether human-ness will be affected. “Har cheez artificial ho jaayegi to insaan kahaan jayega? (If everything becomes artificial, where will the human go?)"
He doesn’t position himself as a crusader, just a man drawing a boundary. “Main sirf bol sakta hoon ki main nahi karunga (All I can say is that I won’t do it)."
'Don't die and work continuously'
What he will always chase, though, is work. Creation. Movement. Anything but stillness. Even his advice to young artists circles back to this unshakeable belief. “Bas yeh hai ki maro mat, don’t die. Agar aap kaam nahi karoge toh (if you don't work) you’re almost like a corpse.” According to him, stagnation is death, and movement is the only antidote. To sit idle is to decay.
And Piyush Mishra, it seems, has no intention of becoming still.
Also Read: As 'Delhi Crime' returns for Season 3, Rasika Dugal talks about working hours and the women she plays
