Over two decades after Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen, Manoj Bajpayee on playing dacoit again in Sonchiriya
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 18, 2018)

He played a small but significant role as Mann Singh in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen (1994). Almost 25 years later, Manoj Bajpayee found himself treading on familiar territory again — the actor is seen as a dacoit in Abhishek Chaubey's Sonchiriya that harks back to the '70s when thugs wreaked havoc in the heartland of India. The film's recently-released teaser won appreciation from fans who lauded Chaubey for his choice of the gritty drama.

On his part, Bajpayee, too, heaps praise on the director for presenting stories through an unvarnished lens. "I admire Abhishek Chaubey's story telling and his potential to make characters so believable on screen," says the actor, who shares screen space with Sushant Singh Rajput and Bhumi Pednekar in the film.

Though unwilling to divulge too many details about the project, Bajpayee concedes that it was an interesting experience to get into mindset of a dacoit again. "The research that I had put in for Bandit Queen came handy when I was performing this time. In terms of craft or referencing, you can't be the same actor you were 25 years ago. But there was a sense of deja vu as we shot at a lot of similar locations in Chambal. I was constantly reminded of the old film."