On the latest episode of Mid-day’s podcast series The Bombay Film Journey, Manoj Bajpayee speaks about his transition from being a sidekick on screen to finally playing the lead
Manoj Bajpayee
Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee, whose journey in cinema has been quite dramatic, just like his films, opens up about the kind of roles he was offered initially after entering the entertainment industry. On the latest episode of Mid-day’s podcast series The Bombay Film Journey, Manoj speaks about his transition from being a sidekick on screen to finally playing the lead.
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Manoj Bajayee on his dreams of becoming a hero
Manoj Bajpayee, who came to Mumbai in the 90s with dreams of becoming a great actor, recalls, “There was no chance of us becoming heroes at that time. I mean, people looking at us really didn't know what to do. I mean, so many people told me on my face, yaar tera kya karein yaar, na tu villain dikhta hai, na tu hero dikhta hai. I have come to this industry with different kind of a, you know, features. But actually they were very right. I was definitely not a hero looking and I was definitely not a dangerous-looking guy, okay. That's how they used to cast.”
Manoj Bajpayee garnered fame with Satya
Manoj Bajpayee made his foray into the cinema 30 years ago with the critically acclaimed Bandit Queen in which he had a small role. He then caught the attention of Ram Gopal Varma who eventually cast him as Bhiku Mhatre in the cult-classic Satya, a film that disrupted the storytelling style in Hindi cinema and bolstered the progress of independent films. But Manoj states that Satya was a fluke in his career.
He explains, "There was only one mad guy called Ram Gopal Varma who was hell-bent on doing his own things. Rest filmmakers who were busy those days were only offering me villain's roles. And that was, that was the easy conventional way of thinking for them that this guy can be a villain to say one big star or another. I was not ready to.”
“I realized that Satya has given me a chance, let me push it further. And I preferred to wait and say no to all the villain's roles and the money. Then to my luck, when Shool happened, people started looking at me differently as their main lead,” he adds.
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