“Wow, it’s been 25 years! It doesn’t feel like that at all,” says an amused Manoj Bajpayee. Joining HT City’s silver jubilee celebration, the actor is excited to also celebrate his films Shool and Kaun (both 1999) reaching this milestone.

Looking back at his journey as an actor, Bajpayee says, “These films played an important part in my career. They gave me new respect [in Bollywood]. Shool showed the industry that Manoj is lead actor material. Before that, they saw me in supporting roles in Satya (1998) and Kaun. People stopped offering me anything lesser than that (lead roles). Shool is now a cult film.”

Shool saw him play a police officer navigating the politician-criminal nexus in Bihar, while Kaun was a suspense thriller. As both the films were vastly different from each other, the 54-year-old feels they gave him a perfect chance to show his versatility. “The audience saw me doing different things. These films and the response they got reassured me that I’m going in the right direction,” he ends.

Before Shool was released, I was invited for a launch in Delhi. I remember HT City coming up [and talking] to me. There, I also met the late (actor) Rishi Kapoor, who said good things about the film. So, HT City is connected with my memory of Shool. I wish everyone at HT City all the best for the future.