Manoj Bajpayee spoke to Ganita about the niche films, biographical dramas and his upcoming movies
From the dacoit in bandit queen to a calm professor in Aligarh, Manoj has portrayed different kind of characters in different movies. “I choose the script and then the role. For me script is the backbone of everything. Also, the script has to be offered at the right time. For instance, had Aligarh been offered fifteen years back I may not have done it. I would have thought of not touching an old man’s story. Today I was ready. It is the mindset. Manoj Bajpayee as a person and as an actor, both of them are complementing each other all of these years. If the person is growing the actor is also growing. The person today is much easier, much calmer and much crazier,” said Bajpai.
Manoj Bajpayee portrayed professor Ramchandra Siras in Hansal Mehta’s biographical drama Aligarh. Talking about the film he said, “It has been a long journey for the movie. It created a lot of interest and debate among the audience and the media. I salute Hansal Mehta that he goes ahead and makes the film. He got a lot of appretiation for his efforts. It’s called an achievement. This film is not merely telling a story but also provoking you to discuss and debate in a coutry like India where being gay is like being criminal.”
Recently he did a short film Kriti directed by Shirish Kunder. It was alleged that Shirish copied the plot of the short film from a Nepali short film BOB. When asked about Kriti and the plagarism row he said, “The whole idea of making a short film happened during the time of Eid when I was having lunch with Shirish. It was me who had given him the idea to make a short film.” He continued talking about the script and Shirish, “The script that he had written was meant for the feature film. He doesn’t come from the area of filmmaking where he could have anywhere be a part of making a short film. It’s the people belonging to independent cinema and experimental cinema who keep experimenting and doing stuff which is not seen and done before. But Sirish doesn’t belong to that area of filmmaking.”
When asked about the popularity of short films in India he said, “I think Kriti has done quite a wonders. It has gotten the whole short film format into the news. Before this I’ve done Tandava which garnered a lot of appreciation.” Talking about the making of short films he said, “Short film takes two days of time and commitment and passion from everyone to do something for themselves. Nobody gets paid for that. There is no money involved.” He added, “Doing the short film is one step towards experimenting with the short format and giving right content to the people who are watching it. It’s getting the muse watching independent cinema.”
Promos of his upcoming film Budhia Singh - Born To Run have been released. It is a biographical sports film directed by Soumendra Padhi. It is based on Budhia Singh who ran 48 marathons. Talking about the film he said, “Budhia is coming, the promos are being appreciated and are creating a lot of interest. It is going to be one of the most remarkable films of my career. It is also based on the real story of which has happened ten years back.” Talking about his other projects, he said, “So, Saat Uchhakey will come. It is lying with the CBFC. It has suggested few changes so we’ll make those changes and then release the film.” Neeraj Pandey’s Saat Uchakkey stars Manoj Bajpayee in the lead has been held for cuss words. He continued talking about his upcoming films, “Then the third film is Missing with Tabbo. That will be coming sometime in October. It is a psychological thriller. And there is one other film called Rukh which will be coming.” He smiled and said, “So, these are the films and one more short film. And I'm not shooting for anything. I’m just faffing around.”
When asked if biopics are an easy way out for the filmmakers he said, “For us, it's just a story. However in a biopic you have to be imaginative and at the same time you can’t be taking the realistic part of it for granted. The incidence which happened, you have to be very very sincere and honest to them. So, they put a lot of pressure for getting the right.”
Bajpai was present in 7th Jagran Film Festival for the screening of is film Aligarh.