Manoj Bajpai, who will host Sony’s Encounter, says he never thought of generating TRPs on TV
What is Encounter all aboutIJ
The show will tell the story of some of the most famous encounters that have taken place in Mumbai in years gone by, between the police and gangsters. Every week, we will tell the story of a gangster — from his early, young days to the point that leads to the infamous encounter. The stories will be narrated in an interesting and gripping manner which will hook the audience of all ages.
Tell us about your role in the show.
I will be the anchor of the show but we are trying to give it a new dimension and present it in an interesting manner. Viewers will see me getting into the depth of the story to tell it from the point of view of the police as well as the gangster.
With many crime-based shows on-air, what are you trying to convey through EncounterIJ
Our main message is that ‘crime does not pay, and when it does, it is often via death.’ The basis of a good society is in punishing crime, as it is not good. The police was not wrong when they killed these criminals. History teaches us that the life of crime leads to lives lived under the shadow of death. Criminals are always scared. Their actions are mostly mechanisms of defence. Many criminals come into the world of crime by chance and later get addicted to it. They left behind their families who are miserable, despite having once enjoyed money and clout. Though there will be comparisons with other crime-based shows, we will not try to be different but just truthful and interesting.
Are you under pressure for TRPsIJ
You must have never heard me talking about any hit or flop movie and there is no control of anyone over it. I only do things which excite me. I would ask people to watch Encounter because it is truly a well-made show.
Tell us about your other projectsIJ
I am currently working on two projects one is Traffic by Endemol and it is a brilliant film. I call it a social thriller. I guarantee that when you see it, you won’t know when it started and when it ended. The second is Saat Uchakkey, a suspense thriller which is coproduced by me with Neeraj Pandey’s production house Friday Filmworks and the director is Sanjeev Sharma. The movie will feature Tabu and me after a very long time.