Manoj Bajpayee On Insider-Outsider Divide In Bollywood: 'Never Felt It'

Aditi Giri (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 8, 2021)

It took many years for the masses to really love and accept me’ shares a humble Manoj Bajpayee. Patience, perseverance, and dedication have allowed the actor to create a niche for himself in showbiz. Ahead of the release of his upcoming movie, the actor spoke about this new inning, the challenges in maintaining individuality, and how he reflects back on 26 years of his journey. Excerpts:

You’ve played the role of a cop, spy, and soldier multiple times. While others may have complained about being typecast, you’ve made these kinds of roles your calling card.
In 26 years of my career, I have played a cop three-four times, played an army personnel three-four times, an intelligence guy twice, a gangster three-four times, criminals a few times, and a professor a couple of times. When you have a decades long career, you are bound to play repetitive characters. But, at the same time, the fact that they looked different was because I was more interested in portraying the person, than their profession. My focus has been the person and not the uniform - that’s how I could make a difference from the last cop I played. Speaking of adversity, I am not somebody to prove people’s opinions wrong. I am interested in doing the characters well so that it helps me evolve. With each performance, I am trying to better myself. This is what interests me the most.

While OTT has allowed you to have a newfound audience with your stellar performance, people also have so much expectations. How do you deal with that?
Yes, true, OTT has expanded my fan base. Now, even children come to me for pictures and autographs; they are exploring all my past work. It’s so overwhelming; it is quite a compliment and an achievement for me. Expectations are always going to be there but I have a certain idea of me as an actor and what I want to do. It’s never about expectations, it’s about following your path with conviction and having a singular mind. This is exactly what I have been doing, unaware of the pressure. It keeps me grounded, and gives me a sense of freedom. I am never scared of failures, criticism, or rejection. I’ve seen too many rejections; in fact, I’ve seen more rejections and failures than acceptance or success. I am really happy and humbled that people are liking my work and I thank God and the audience for loving me.

You have been wholeheartedly accepted Gen Z. How do you connect with everyone?
Believe me, there’s no secret. I wish I knew the secret behind all of this. Your question is more a compliment to me, which I accept wholeheartedly. For Gen Z, I am a new actor and it feels so fresh that way. They are looking forward to my new work, so it’s exciting. This is a great situation to be in. I just hope they like everything they watch, even in the future.

Sadly, 50 per cent of my films are for adult viewers and 50 per cent for everybody. I am hoping that that 50 per cent is entertaining enough for them to keep loving me (smiles).

With back-to-back critically acclaimed projects, there’s a lot of recognition coming your way now. How did you keep going when it wasn’t?
Consistency. I was focused right from the beginning with all my projects. Whether they succeeded or bombed - nothing ever deterred me from my own path. My love for acting is quite massive and that drives me to really indulge in the projects and the work that I do. Also if I am not working on a project, I am constantly working on myself. I am more interested in evolving as an actor. It indeed took many years for the masses to really love me but I never regretted it.

Upcoming projects?
I have Raam Reddy’s film; he has directed ‘Thithi’. I have finished 80-85% of Kanu Behl’s film; he has directed ‘Titli’ in the past.