Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most celebrated character actors in the industry. Known for portraying grey, often complex roles, he brings a level of unexpected humanity to whatever part he plays. Bajpayee, who was rejected from NSD three times, is one of the industry's most decorated actors. He has entertained, engaged and thrilled audiences for more than 2 decades. Bajpayee is an institution of acting within himself.
Manoj Bajpayee is the most sought-after actor in the industry, but back in his struggling days, things were different. In the first four years, he was rejected from almost every audition and struggled to get work. He bagged four projects - a series, a corporate film, one docudrama and another series. He was thrown out from all of them in one day and left him back to square one. When asked about this difficult period, Manoj said that he wasn't particularly affected by them.
Manoj Bajpayee's wife name is Shabana Raza. She is also an actress. She was in the movie Rahul.
Nowadays, making a biopic on actors and other inspiring figures is all the craze there is. Manoj, in a recent interview, stated that he knows some writers who are currently working on creating one in his life. He feels like he's not achieved enough in his life to have a film being made about him.
Bajpayee has, however, given the writer's ample freedom to do as they please, and he won't interfere with the project. He wants this film to not be a propaganda piece and show the real struggle of being an actor. We cannot wait to see a Manoj biopic, and it has the potential to be truly extraordinary.
Manoj Bajpayee's childhood was spent in Belwa village in West Champaran, Bihar. Even though he's achieved great success and fame, a part of him still yearns for simplistic village life. Bajpayee is building a community centre and a school in the village. He has also renovated his ancestral house and further plans to eradicate all the problems of the village. Manoj's close ties to the heartland only increase our respect for him.
Manoj Bajpayee's contribution to cinema has been immense and has been a source of inspiration for actors struggling to make it. The film industry is known to favour fair skin and piercing blue-eyed actors, actresses. If you're an individual who looks like 90 per cent of the Indians, then the chances of making it are slim to none.
For many actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi, he was a big source of inspiration. Even though the stacks of rejections kept piling up, they kept grinding and today are extremely successful. When Tripathi went onto The Kapil Sharma Show, he became extremely emotional about his pure love for Bajpayee. Actors like Manoj are the last bastion of acting, and they are keeping the art form alive by sheer grit.
Manoj Bajpayee is an actor whose method acting to get complete believability for a role. Method acting is a school of acting where an actor doesn't break the character throughout filming. He has used this technique in many films like Satya, Gali Guleiyan.
Manoj says that in his early days, he used to have difficulty breaking away from the character. After portraying Bhiku Mhatre, he had many sleepless nights, but now he can break free easily. One of his Psychiatric friends advised him against it due to the mental toll, but he can't seem to help it.
Manoj Bajpayee has a severe fear of heights, which leads to many issues when shooting the iconic Satya scene. He would climb up the hill and forget all his lines leading to a lot of issues. At one point on the hill, he shouted Mujhe Yaha Se Neeche Utara Muje Yaha Se Neeche Utara. RGV just dubbed over the lines
"Mumbai ka king kaun? ... Bhiku Mhatre" over the footage, and it's in the final cut.
This showcases the magic of cinema and how just by a simple tweak, one can change anything.
Manoj Bajpayee is having a new resurgence with his action-packed and dramatic roles in the OTT platforms. The Indian audiences are now recognizing the great actors and bringing them to the forefront. Even at the age of 52, he's at the top of his game and continues to thrill audiences.
Recently he has done the movie Bandaa on the ZEE5 OTT platform.
