Last year, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai received so much love on its digital première that it was soon released theatrically. This time around, director Apoorv Singh Karki has taken the big-screen route with Bhaiyya Ji, an action film led by Manoj Bajpayee. Despite the switch, the director insists that the size of a screen hardly matters. “I started my career with Aspirants, which the whole world saw on YouTube. A good story reaches its people,” he shares.

Bhaiyya Ji is an unapologetically mainstream offering, revelling in its action and dialoguebaazi. Produced by Bajpayee, it sees the actor as a heartland hero fighting off baddies—an avatar that we’ve rarely seen him in. Karki believes his casting of a relatable hero and treatment of an age-old story set the movie apart.

“Most successes of the last few years, leaving aside Shah Rukh Khan’s films, have relatable heroes. The hero looks like my father, my uncle, or someone who comes from my neighbourhood. KGF and Pushpa: The Rise - Part 01 [2021] work because the audiences relate to the people and the stories. This isn’t a hero who jumps from the helicopter; he gets up from the streets. Films about social injustice and corruption work. The hopelessness towards the system can be rectified by a hero who, in an alternate world, can punch, kill and give us closure.”

Bajpayee headlining the movie is a crucial move in changing the face of today’s mainstream hero. “I’ve always seen him as a mainstream hero. But he said no one offers him such parts. It mustn’t be forgotten that Gangs Of Wasseypur [2012] works because he is a recognizable face,” states Karki.

Four days after Zoya Hussain watched Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai did she get a call to star in Bhaiyya-Ji opposite Manoj Bajpayee. Hussain made her debut with Anurag Kashyap's Mukkabaaz and then followed it up with Laal Kaptaan opposite Saif Ali Khan.

"I was very intimidated when they called for this film. I wasn't sure I could match his prowess. But when I met him, I realized he is very funny. This film is the rare time that I was on a set that was so happy. I really got a dream team to work with," she tells us. 

But in the past seven years, despite a shining performance in one of Hotstar's most-loved shows Grahan, Hussain has been branded as picky. When we sit down with her, we ask why it took so long to see her in a Bollywood film again.

"It's not that I am so picky. I think because of Mukkabaaz, I got stereotyped. It was assumed I would only do these types of roles. I am not from Mumbai or industry or modelling. All my opportunities come organically. Apoorv Singh Karki and Manoj sir saw my film, thought I am good, and gave me a call. I have turned down some commercial films because in many of those offered to me, the female character is an accessory. There was literally nothing to do. I don't want to do such films because that's not a narrative I wish to contribute to. I am not saying stories have to be female-oriented. But why can't character driven good stories come to me. In this film, we haven't revealed my character yet. But when people watch, they will get to know why this movie was fulfilling for me. The film is set in a small town but this isn't an average subservient girl's part."

Hussain faults the writing of female parts in Bollywood and says the parts by and large are either sexy glam girl or helpless.

"This is a casting problem as much as writing people. When you write these characters, you look for women to fit these moulds. Writing has to be diverse. For decades we serve the male gaze where the protagonist is a man, ensemble of men and the women are thrown in as an afterthought. They are not well rounded characters. Now we have an attempt to have more female characters but now we are falling into the opposite trope and now we have stereotyped the independent woman. It doesn't mean she is smoking, drinking and rebelling. Rebels can be conservative too. Writing and casting departments have a lot of work to do."

Hussain has been through her own share of personal struggles which has hindered her from getting bigger projects greatly.

"I didn't make a big splash because all my work came out in Covid. I feel it all fell under the radar. It is taking a little longer than it takes for people who have a modelling background or industry support. They are more visible. It is tough to stay happy and motivated. In terms of casting, I faced a lot of struggles initially. A woman studio head told me in my first year - you are dusky, you are curvy, you'll be in indie type movies. It still makes me angry. Most actresses are tall and thin. In our industry - colour or size inclusion is still in its tokenist phase. That has to change. I am very rebellious about not wanting to change myself. I keep my head down and work. Now I am working alongside Manoj Bajpayee, and it is a reaffirmation that I am talented enough to work with him. Working with him helped my career, my confidence and my craft."

When we get on a call with Manoj Bajpayee, he opens the conversation, saying, “You’ll be proud of me by the end of this year.” We immediately respond that we’re almost always proud of him and his films. Easily one of the finest Hindi actors of our generation, Bajpayee has built a robust filmography, and shone bright last year with Gulmohar, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, and Joram. For 2024, he has an equally diverse slate, beginning with Netflix’s crime series, Killer Soup that also stars Konkona Sen Sharma and is helmed by Abhishek Chaubey.

“What I’m looking forward to in 2024 is the result of my love for a variety of genres,” says Bajpayee. “Last year, if I had the middle-of-the-road Gulmohar, I did a content-heavy project like Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai and an independent movie, Joram. Similarly, this year, there will be mainstream, middle-of-the-road and independent cinema. I begin with Killer Soup, then there is the [sequel to] Silence… Can You Hear It?, director Raam Reddy’s Pahadon Mein that is travelling to many film festivals, and Kanu Behl’s investigative thriller Despatch.”

This year, the actor will also have a brush with production, with Bhaiyya Ji. While he had produced Missing (2018) under the banner of Manoj Bajpayee Productions, Bhaiyya Ji will mark the launch of Aurega Studios that is headed by the actor’s wife Shabana and his business partner Vikram Khakhar. 

“Shabana is handling everything, including the creatives and administration. Bhaiyya Ji is a larger-than-life character from the hinterlands of north India. The film is inspired by a true incident. The story was on my mind for years. I wanted to make a middle-of-the-road movie, but director Apoorv Singh Karki was intent on making an action entertainer. Our association on Bandaa has been so good, and he was so insistent that I had to give up that thought. It is a mainstream, formula film with lots of action. That said, it’s not a mindless entertainer, it has my sensibilities.”

Interestingly, Bajpayee has also written the story with screenplay by Deepak Kingrani, marking the actor’s foray into screenwriting. “People don’t know that side of me—that I am a writer too. I stopped writing after I left theatre. Until then, I used to write street plays. I left it as acting takes so much time, and I put in so much passion into every role that I play.”

Every time Manoj Bajpayee invests in a film that has a social message, he has a singular concern — that a badly made film can render the message pointless. With Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, the actor had no reason to worry as the script surpassed his expectations. When producer Vinod Bhanushali and creative producer Suparn Varma offered him the social drama, based on the 2013 rape case of a 16-year-old by self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, they gave him the liberty to choose a suitable director and writer.

“I happened to see Aspirants by Apoorv Singh Karki and loved it. I mentioned his name in the meeting. Apoorv happily came on board. The way writer Deepak Kingrani and he have written the climax overwhelmed me. It became the most attractive part of the film,” says the actor.

But there was a bigger and more powerful reason for Bajpayee to lead the ZEE5 offering, which sees him step into the shoes of Jodhpur-based lawyer Poonam Chand Solanki, who fought against some of the country’s most powerful attorneys and had Asaram convicted. Being a parent, the actor felt deeply about children’s safety.

“All of us were driven by our concern for the protection of children and minors. We are a heavily populated country, but our children are not as secure. Their safety is a concern shared by me, Apoorv and every parent. If the children aren’t safe, our future is not safe. If a child’s privacy and dignity are invaded, it means so many other children’s dignity is crushed too,” he emphasises.

Even as Bandaa chronicles the events that led to Asaram’s conviction in 2018, Bajpayee is aware that people’s faith in the country has oddly become intertwined with worshipping godmen. In such a scenario, is it risky to tell a story that shows the evil in men, who are fiercely protected by people’s blind faith?

The actor weighs in, “I am a believer. My day starts with a prayer. But at the same time, I have a few concerns as a believer. It’s the believer’s responsibility to keep the bad element out [of his faith]. By [making the film], we are also protecting the belief.”

For the better part of the aughts, Indian television churned out saas-bahu dramas where the domineering mother-in-law was the arch villain of the holier-than-thou bahu. But as the years have passed, the role of women has changed. It isn’t surprising then that Amruta Subhash is offering a new take on the saas-bahu dynamics with the series, Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt Ltd. She plays the middle-aged Suman who, compelled by circumstances, has to become the breadwinner of the family, and discovers her innate entrepreneurial spirit when she begins her pickle business. Cheering her on is her mother-in-law, essayed by Yamini Das.

The ZEE5 offering comes from a deeply personal space for creator Arunabh Kumar. He says the show — which celebrates women’s resilient and independent spirit — is influenced by the hardships faced by his mother. “I have closely seen the struggles of my mother, who ran a high school in a village in Bihar, and worked with self-employed women from Tier-II and III towns. This became my personal motivation to tell this story,” he says.

The TVF (The Viral Fever) team began developing the material a year ago, before taking the Annup Sonii and Anjana Sukhani-starrer on floors in Delhi late last year. Director Apoorv Singh Karki, who struck gold with Aspirants (2021), has taken the responsibility of showcasing an unlikely hero. “It’s a story of how everyday women like Suman are rising professionally, and holding their own in the world of business,” he says.

Nimisha Pandey, chief content officer, Hindi originals, ZEE5, adds that she greenlit the series as it offered a refreshing take on age-old relationships and “embraced flawed women characters.”