Exclusive: Manoj Bajpayee chats about the new horizons coming his way

If you ever met Srikant from The Family Man in real life, what kind of questions would you ask him?

(Laughs) I would say I get you brother. His whole conflict that he goes through at home, I completely get that. For a man or a woman, it is difficult to strike that balance between work life and family life. He is somebody who has two very strong-willed women at home. And I too have two very independent women at my home. So I get him,
I feel him.

Give a typical Srikant-like situation you have faced at home.

(Laughs) Just now, before this interview, my daughter was ranting, ‘You are always working, you’re never at home. You didn’t come to meet me from Munnar. You have come to do your work.’

What did your wife say?

(Grins) My wife is used to it by now.

Srikant is in his element in the first season. But in his second season, he is someone who has been looking for help since the beginning. He is struggling to appease each and everyone. For me, that is why the second season is much more intense. Srikant comes across as a disturbed man and that’s the basic difference between the first and the second season.

After 27 years in the industry, how do you respond when some people call you a thespian? Pankaj Tripathi broke down in a show and said you’re his mentor...

I must say that Pankaj’s emotions or when Nawazuddin Siddiqui or Rajkummar Rao or Kay Kay Menon talk about it, more than feeling good... What I feel is all those rejections and fights that one went through post Satya in terms of choosing the right way and not doing certain things that people wanted me to do... I was clear that I am here to live my dream and not anybody else’s dream. I feel that for all of these people who came after me, things became easy because there was one Manoj Bajpayee or one Irrfan or one Kay Kay, who fought hard and made the road smooth for them.

You were always grounded even after the tremendous success of Satya.

The first couple of months when we were having a private screening of Satya, there were high praises going on in every corner of the industry. I was welcomed everywhere. I was being celebrated. But I was telling myself this is all going to go. Because they don’t know I am not going to do things their way. Secondly, this industry never had anything new to offer me. There was only one person who could offer me the next challenge. He was Ram Gopal Verma because he was the person making those films where
I could fit in. Other than him, there was nobody else who was making films where Manoj Bajpayee could get a chance to fulfill his own dream as an actor after Satya.

What’s the best piece of advice you have received?

That would be from my wife, when I did a few wrong films. I’d bought a house and there was a huge chunk of money that I’d to pay off to the builder. My wife went to the theatre to watch a film of mine. And she overheard a few girls making fun of me, my face, my acting, my work and everything about me in that film. She came out embarrassed and when I came back from my outdoor shoot, she said if there’s a film you don’t want to do, don’t do it. I know you don’t believe in these films, you are only doing it for money. From now on, you will do films that you believe in. Whether there is money in the bank or not, you will only do films which you believe in. That was not only the best advice but was reassuring for me more than anything else.

From among your own, are there any five career-defining movies for you?

I would say Bandit Queen. That’s the movie which forcibly took me out from the theatre world and put me into this city. I unwillingly came to this city because of Bandit Queen. Second one is definitely Satya. Then I would say Zubeidaa because Zubeidaa actually let people know that Manoj Bajpayee can do these kinds of films also. Then Pinjar, which got me my second National Award. After Rajneeti, Gangs Of Wasseypur changed the whole grammar of filmmaking. Though my character Sardar Khan became a catalyst for memes. At times, it was annoying and embarrassing as well. There’s a meme of Sardar Khan for every occasion. And of course The Family Man and Aligarh too.

Were there any lulls in your career that made you rethink your career?

After Shool, Kaun and Satya there was a lull. All these films were produced and directed by Mr. Ram Gopal Verma. Shool was completely designed by him and Anurag Kashyap wrote it. But after that there was quite a lull because all the offers which came to me, I didn’t wnat to be a part of them. You can do a bad film but you cannot do a wrong film.

How does your extended family react to your thespian status, to your stardom?

I wish I had a great answer for it. (Chuckles) Till now, I am treated as if some unemployed son has come home. I am still screamed at. They are very proud of me, definitely. They make sure that we don’t talk about films or politics because nowadays in politics, everybody has an opinion and they start fighting. They want to make sure that I feel that I belong to them.

How was it working with Sharib Hashmi in The Family Man, with whom you had such wonderful chemistry?

With Sharib, I have a very different kind of equation. During the first season, I’d just sit with him, talk about the scene, the character, how I am going to improvise and how he should come into the scene. I used to make him sit down and go through our scenes and really work out things with him. And that’s how this chemistry got built. Sharib initially was quite hesitant, also because somewhere he considered me as his senior. So I had to work on those aspects quite a lot by spending time together. Sharib is on a high right now. I am so happy for him. He has two children, a lovely wife. I really want him to do fantastically well till the end of his life because he deserves it. You should meet his family, such a lovely family and what a devoted husband and father this guy is. Do you know what is great about Sharib? Without even drinking he can be dancing at a party till 6 a.m. I leave a party by 11:30 pm. This guy doesn’t even drink, he stays up till 6 o’clock. (Laughs) How can anybody who is not drinking be partying till so late?

How was it working with Samantha?

I was watching the second season all over again with my daughter because she wanted to watch it. I had to monitor that because it contains certain scenes that children shouldn’t watch. The second time I was watching it, I realised that Samantha is superlative in the series. The kind of focus, the intensity, the graph she has maintained, the research she has done. I know she had done the research because Raj and DK were getting all the material and passing it off to Samantha to work on it. They told me about all the martial art classes she was going through. I knew she was all prepared. She’s such a big star but when you saw her on the set, she was completely into the character, sitting in the corner till she was called for her scene. We really gelled well and mutual respect and admiration grew between us.

Your final words on the mad director duo Raj and DK?

Raj and DK are rockstars, They are very modern people. Engineers who went to US, worked in IT companies. DK is someone who wants to act. That’s the hidden agenda why he has become a director. Raj is the quiet one but all the comedy, all the humour you see in the series is all because of Raj. He keeps a straight face while dropping one-liners. So when people wonder where my straight-face humour comes from, it is from Raj. Now after three years, we are like family. So whatever they are doing, they share it with me, whatever I am doing, I share with them.

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