When Brut met Manoj Bajpayee

Brut India

“I like being called underrated.” Manoj Bajpayee tells Brut how he made it big. The actor’s new film Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai released yesterday.

Transcript

00:00Are you comfortable sitting that way?

00:01I'm very comfortable.

00:02Now, it's looking good.

00:04Yeah.

00:04Yeah, now you're more relaxed.

00:05Swag.

00:06This is Manoj Bajpayee for Brute.

00:17Doing variety roles don't bore you.

00:21Doing similar kind of roles and similar kind of hero for 20 years, that should bore you.

00:27I watch a lot of movies.

00:29I prefer to be underrated.

00:34Because being underrated is better than being overrated.

00:44Stubbornness helped me quite a lot.

00:46Because once I decided that I will be in Delhi.

00:50And I would do theatre for very long.

00:55Because I don't have anyone in the film industry.

00:58So I have to be really well versed with the craft.

01:02I have to have experience in acting in theatre.

01:07Many people kept on compelling me or pushing me to leave for Mumbai.

01:14And chase my dreams in cinema.

01:15Which I didn't do.

01:17Good that I didn't do.

01:18Because cinema here, Hindi cinema, has a very cutthroat quality to it.

01:26And if you don't have any near and dear ones in the industry, it takes years to really make it.

01:33And it really requires a lot of conviction from your side.

01:36And if you are prepared, if you have done enough theatre,

01:40at least you have that satisfaction in your head that you know your job.

01:45And whatever opportunity will be thrown at you, you will be able to do justice to it.

01:51Who else will help me?

01:54Becoming a star is the job of the audience.

01:58But before that, if you are a good actor,

02:02then your stardom,

02:06in most cases, I would say,

02:08your stardom takes a long time.

02:12People don't ask for the king's address in the streets.

02:15I know how politics has taken up my entire career.

02:21It gave me strength.

02:23It brought me back in the market, in the market of the industry.

02:30If politics didn't exist, then I wouldn't have been in the films that I made.

02:36People wouldn't have taken me.

02:37The public only knows one face.

02:42Looking back at your acting journey, would you be able to rate it out of 10?

02:46I rate myself 4.

02:47That means I'm not even half of it.

02:50It's very difficult to satisfy oneself.

02:52Today, people are very happy with my performance in Banda.

02:56I like it.

02:58But tomorrow, if I see the film after two years,

03:03I would move on.

03:04In two years, I'll be somewhere else.

03:06I will learn a few more things.

03:08This is exactly what happens to me when I watch my

03:11performances after a few months, after a few years.

03:14I find it completely redundant.

03:17And that makes me work harder and harder to at least be 5 out of 10.

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