Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; March 31, 2026)

Manoj Bajpayee was in Delhi for a session at the IFFD. When an alumnus of Ramjas College, talks about cinema, in Delhi, a throwback is inevitable – the journey to come to Delhi to learn acting from his village in Bihar at 18, a lifetime back. The struggle, the uncertainty, and the 32 long years spent in an industry, that he strongly feels, is too star-centric. That industry, along with a media and the audience that is too star-struck, just does not give many talented actors their due in time, he rues. Not wistfully, but angrily. Anger about the years lost before they are given their due. About the discrepancy in money and stature – ‘second-class citizens’, he calls them. About the fixation of evaluating movies, and actors, basis their box office numbers. Read on to see the otherwise gentle Family Man in unchecked Shool mode:

Back in 2012, when you were in Cannes for the premiere of Gangs of Wasseypur, you had told me, ‘Indian media hamari baat nahi karta hai. Aaj ka media baat karta hai ki stars ne kaun se kapde pehne.’ You and Nawazuddin were saying that the stage that star kids reach with their debut – multicrore films, producers chasing you – you don’t reach that in many many years. I had asked you, 'aapko nahi lagta samay aapke haath se nikla ja raha hai?’ To which you had said something that has stayed with me:

‘Badi lambi ladai hai hamare liye - khud se bhi hoti hai, poora system lad raha hota hai. Ya toh khaane ko le kar jaddojahad hai, ya jo logon ke perceptions ban jaate hain hamare baare mein, usko le kar jaddojahad hai, hum apni jagah banana chahte hain, uski jaddojahad hai. A lot of our energy, which should have gone to our craft, instead goes into these fights. By the time people want to use your talent in the right way, tab tak bada late ho chuka hota hai. Like I am a very desperate man right now. I want to work with all the fantastic filmmakers. Mujhe lagta hai, mera samay nikla jaa rahaa hai, jaldi karo, jaldi karo...Yeh samay kyun nikla? Kyunki hum bina matlab ke jaddojahad me phanse reh gaye.’

How do you feel about that sentiment now?
I am at a stage when a lot of roles are physically not possible for me. Or I will not be able to do a mentally exhausting role - iss dar se ki kya main isko survive kar paunga? Kya koi ghatna toh nahi ghat jayegi. Kanu Behl hamare Hindustan ka ek bahut hi pahuncha hua filmmaker hai. Zyada log usko tavajjo nahi dete hain kyunki Rs 1,000 crore ki film nahi banayi hai usne. Lekin uss generation mein bahut hi kam brilliant, international level ka jise kahein, woh director hai Kanu Behl. I did Despatch (2024) with him, jo mujhe lagta hai meri behtareen film aur behtareen performance mein se hai. After that, he came to me with another story, but I told him, 'Kanu, kaash ki main 30-40 ki umr mein hota, toh teri film zaroor karta'. Kyunki Kanu ka apna ek process hai jismein aadmi bahut thak jata hai, mentally aur physically. Bahut demanding hoti hai uski direction. Mujhe afsos iss baat ka hai ki main uss umr mein nahi hoon ki main Kanu Behl ki film kar paoon. Late isliye hua. Late hua hai. Aur bahut late hua hai.

Uska karan sabse bada ye raha hai ki media aur darshak dono hi busy rahe stars ko celebrate karne mein. They don't care that a very talented Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been 15 years late in his career. No one cares that it's late for a Pankaj Tripathi. They got the respect and recognition so late - by then they can't do a lot of roles. But the good thing is that at least jab bhi woh aaye - aapne unke talent ko pehchana. Lekin, yakeen maaniye late ho gaya. Agar woh 25 saal ki umr mein ya 30 saal ki umr mein unko woh pehchan ya maanyata mili hoti toh bahut saare roles thay joh woh kar sakte thay. Ab uss age category mein woh log rahe nahin.

Hamare Hindustan mein talent ko kabhi celebrate hi nahi kiya gaya. If you go on social media now, you'll see that the films that are doing well - no one is talking about the performances in them, or the director's brilliant craft. What are we talking about? Today the film crossed Rs 100 crore - kal 150 ho jayega, koi dusra kehta hai nahi, 200 ho jayega. Films are celebrated as numbers or that actor's hairstyle was so good or who wore which designer. Hum log filmon ke baare mein ya kisi bhi kaam ko lekar ke - hum na talent ki baat karte hain, na craft ki baat karte hain. Humne apne aap ko ek darshak ke taur pe - ek media ke taur pe usi daayre mein rakha hai.

If box office numbers are so amazing that they decide everything... I've been in this industry for 32 years. I don't even have 8 hit films in these 32 years. So how am I here? Doesn't my being here negate this language of trade and box office? 8 filmein bhi hit nahi hai meri - Satya se le kar ke ab tak. Toh box office number kitne valid hote hain? Kahin na kahin darshakon ko ya filmmakers ko Manoj Bajpayee chahiye tha. Unke karan maine unki filmon mein kaam kiya.

Anurag Kashyap didn't take me in Gangs Of Wasseypur after seeing box office numbers. Meri kaabiliyat dekh ke liya tha usne. Ram Gopal Verma ke paas jab mujhe Satya mili thi tab dar-dar bhatakne wala ek actor tha main. Kabhi kisi serial ke episode mein dikh jata tha ya kisi actor ya producer ke darwaze pe dikhta tha. 

The way we have started celebrating box office numbers - it not a sign of a good film industry. If I give a story, a script to a trade journalist and ask kitne hazar crore ka ya kitne 100 crore ka collection ye film karegi? No one will be able to tell. Ye sab batane lagte hain jab film lag jati hai. Iska matlab ye hai ki sab mithya hai. Ye sab bakwas hai. When the audience starts changing - the films will start changing. 

So if a film is recognized and celebrated based on how much money it makes, an artiste’s stature is also recognized by how much money they command. Back then, you had shared that actors like you - the people you named earlier - the problem you face is that when you are cast in a big budget film, you get a side role, so you don't get big money. And when films cast you in the lead role, the people making it do not have big money. So either way - paisa nahi aata. Is that still the same or has anything changed?
Nothing has changed. Ek hero ne bahut achhi baat mujhse kahi thi - main naam nahi lunga. Maine kaha - bhai, aap bahut secure actor ho, yaar. Toh unhone kaha tha - yaar, bahut seedhi si baat hai. Tu bahut badhiya kaam kar raha hai. Lekin agar film hit ho gayi toh tere Rs 400 badhenge aur mere Rs 4 lakh badhenge. Toh aap samajh sakte hain hum kahan par hain? 

Isi system se ladai karte hue mujhe itne saal ho gaye hain. I say it with a lot of pride that I got a lot of films, big films, but I said no to them because they treated those doing secondary roles as secondary citizens. Whether it is about the level of amenities or the level of pay.

That was my fight. That's why I tried that either I don't say yes to multi-starrer or if I do them, I make sure that the amenities that the others are getting, I also get the same. Self-respecting aadmi hoon.

In this tale of your struggle, I think a defining moment was the film 1971. You had told me earlier: 'Isko dekhne ke baad Anurag Kashyap ne aur mere bahut saare doston ne kaha ki this was the best film on the Army they had seen. Aur uske baad na uss film ki tickets sell hoti hain, na uss ko kisi awards function mein koi tarjeem di jaati hai toh bahut... I wouldn't say it broke me, but yes, it taught me a big lesson. Ki yaar agar ab kuch bhi karna pade, naachna pade Juhu Circle pe jaa kar toh woh bhi karenge, humko compete toh karna hi padega... Humari jaisi film ki koi jaankari nahi milti hai public ko, aur nah hi woh jankari lene ke liye kahi jayenge.'
It is very difficult for small films to compete in this industry. Chhoti filmein achha bhi kar rahi hoti hain toh unke shows ghata diye jaate hain. Meri apni film - Aligarh ho, Bhonsle ho, Gali Guleiyan ho - main khud dekhne nahi jaunga subah 9 baje. Toh main audience se kaise expect karunga ki jo exhibitor ne time diya hai 9 baje ka meri chhoti si film ko - woh audience dekhne jayegi?

Ye jo pura system hai - it is so flawed. And it is so dominated by hierarchy - ki ismein compete karna bahut mushkil kaam hota hai. Lekin mere bahut saare aise actors dost hain - unko jab main ye kehta hoon ki tum ye sab ladai lado toh kehte hain ki sir, hum log aapki terah nahi hain na.

Lekin main isliye ladta hoon kyunki main gaon se aaya tha. Aur main saara samaan le kar aaya tha toh ab wapis ja bhi nahi sakta hoon. I have no other option in my mind, but to fight - fight to survive, fight to showcase my talent.

Post COVID - ye pura system jo hai woh hil gaya hai, uske foundation hil gaye hain, power centre hil gaya hai industry mein.

Coming back to your first thing - lekin hamare liye toh late ho gaya na! Lekin saath hi saath main ye dekhta hoon ki kitne saare talent iss industry ne barbaad kar diye - some of them became alcoholic, some of them ended their lives.

When I look at all of that - I feel blessed and grateful ki at least upar wale ne, darshakon ne aur kuch ek directors ne mujhe woh jagah di jiska phal mujhe mil raha hai. Mujhe ek position diya - so, I feel grateful about it.

Talking about 1971, uski journey jo hai bahut hi inspiring hai. When the film released, the distributor couldn't even put up a poster outside any cinema hall. Aur mera manana hai, ya aap Anurag Kashyap se ja kar bhi puchhiye, jin logon ne bhi film dekhi thi uss samay - unhone kaha tha ye Hindustan mein banne wali best Army film hai.

But the film met a terrible fate. When we went to promote it, we were told there's no one in the theatre, so if you sell the tickets, people might buy.

If you are in this profession, toh haar maan kar kya kar loge? Kaun aap ke sar pe haath rakhega? Haar maan liya toh iska matlab jaiye phir!

But that is not the option. The option is to be here, and to keep fighting, to keep fighting to do good work.

That fight was, however, difficult for your director right?
After 1971, the film's director (Amrit Sagar) went into depression. When the National Award submission was announced, I was at a party in Delhi. An official told me Manoj ji aapki koi film hai toh bhej do submission ke liye. When I called the director, he said, 'mujhse aage se aise mazak mat karna yaar!' Daant diya usne mujhe woh itne depression mein tha. Maine uske father ko keh kar ke film ko submit karaya. When 1971 got two National Awards (Best Film and Best Audiography in 2007), maine apne director ko phone kiya toh woh rone laga gusse mein - ki tu mere saath itna bura mazak kyun kar raha hai. Sochiye aap kitna toot chuka tha woh!

During the pandemic, he called and said, '1971 ko toh koi dekh nahi paya. Isko hum log YouTube par daal de?' Usne creative bheja, maine khud daala, usko promote kiya. It became the first digital blockbuster (in India). 50 million views in no time. No time.

That proves that there is a lacuna in the system. There is a flaw in the system where we don't celebrate, we don't promote good work. We don't.

Personal level pe, individual level pe, media ka ek-ek aadmi, audience ka ek-ek jagrook aadmi decide karta hai toh woh bahut kuch badal sakta hai.

Akele actor aur creative log nahi badal sakte hain. Woh ek hi cheez kar sakte hain - tikey rahein.

Lekin, main aapk bataoon hum yahan tike hue hain. With or without your support, with or without your best wishes - hum tike hue hain. I am personally here - even after 32 years. I am here - working, fighting and fighting to do the work - all the time.