EXCLUSIVE | Manoj Bajpayee: 'Raajneeti has resurrected my career, was down and out and suddenly I got this film'

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Manoj Bajpayee and the director of his new film _Bandaa (_which streams on Zee5 from May 23) Apoorv Singh Karki speak about their maiden collaboration, and Bajpayee dissects some of his most accomplished works as an actor yet- Satya, Kaun, Aks, and Raajneeti. Apoorv on what we can expect from Bandaa [caption id=“attachment_12600262” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Bandaa[/caption] Bandaa has a very great cause behind it. The issue the film grapples with is immensely important in today’s time. The film is about a minor who’s raped and her fight for justice and her five-year journey. It’s a very socially relevant film, but it’s difficult to say how it’s different from the other legal dramas. This film will reach a lot of people and we are trying to give a message through it. Manoj Bajpayee on his definition of a hero Earlier, the heroes used to be of a certain color, certain height, certain hairstyle, and certain swag; they used to romance the heroines and beat up the bad guys. Today, a hero is the protagonist, things have changed, a protagonist is someone who’s driving the story. In Bandaa, the protagonist is a very ordinary man, there’s no stereotypical heroism about him. He has a small car and a scooter, he’s a small-town lawyer who has a son and an aging mother. Here, he takes up a case, a cause, and fights for a minor and take it till the end. He’s fighting inside and even outside the court. Today, heroes have changed completely. Apporv on creating relatable characters and stories I’d like to believe I’m very observant, Manoj sir is very observant. You can find relatable characters if you continue staying observant. You need to be socially connected to be able to read people, and that’s how you are able to write such characters. Manoj on the OTT platform and box-office obsession That’s where we started losing quality. Box Office has become very important for people to decide whether a film is good or bad. Box office collections only have to do with the producers, distributors and exhibitors. The actors and audiences don’t really have to look at it. At the end of the day, even if you pay 500 bucks to watch a film, it doesn’t guarantee that it is going to be a good film. In many of the so-called blockbusters, the audiences went in and came out in 20 minutes, 25 minutes. How do you define a blockbuster and call it a good film? I would like the audience to take a call on it, whether it has worked for them or not. The journalists should not be talking about any film in regards to its collection, they should be concentrating only on the cinematic quality of the film. [caption id=“attachment_12600302” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Family Man[/caption] OTT has given me a new high. I was doing well and getting respected pre Family Man, but this show has definitely given me greater high in terms of choices, in terms of empowering me, and giving me greater opportunities, and gaining the trust and love of the audiences. On his death scene in Satya

I’ll give you a behind-the-scene trivia of that sequence. Anurag Kashyap , Ram Gopal Varma, and Saurabh Shukla decided that Bhikhu Mhatre should die in one shot. As the day of the shot came near, everybody started developing cold feet, and they all went into complete doubts. We had shot 60 to 70% of the film and realized that my character had shaped up really really well. Now they were in two minds- Whether to shoot him in one go or multiple times. Finally, they decided to do a rehearsal and then take a decision. The entire thing when I enter and till the time I die, it wasn’t written, it was all in the minds. Everybody was very loud, loud, loud loud, it was complete cacophony, and I didn’t know when he’s going to shoot me. It was decided that Govind Namdev is going to shoot me in his own time and at that time, I shouldn’t be looking into his eyes. There was no rehearsal for that. The entire scene happens between Makarand Deshpande and Saurabh Shukla and Saurabh Shukla is just looking at my body and Makarand is giving his monologue. On the climax of Kaun?

We shot for 20 nights. You can ask any filmmaker, any actor, any editor, any light person, they will shiver upon hearing we shot for 20 nights in one go. On top of that, for every shot, there used to be a rain machine. I was wet all the time in the film for 20 days and 16 hours. When that scene was happening on the roof, that was shot for the whole night when Urmila kills me. When I gave that expression of getting stabbed, everyone clapped. People used to act differently while getting stabbed but I tried to make it as real as possible. Not that I have had any experience of it, but I got it. I came back to Bombay after shooting for the climax and was sleeping, and Vishal Bhardwaj called me and asked me to take his wife Rekha to Hansal Mehta’s party. I went to that party despite not wanting to go because I was too tired after 20 nights of shooting; and there I met my wife, and my love story started. (Laughs) On Raajneeti, Aarakshan, and working with Prakash Jha [caption id=“attachment_12600332” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Raajneeti[/caption] Raajneeti has resurrected my career. I was down and out for five-six years and suddenly I got Raajneeti and it brought me back to the scene. Prakash Jha’s strength not only lies in his writing but production skills too. The crowd that you see in Raajneeti, Aarakshan, and Satyagraha were trained over a period of 8-10 months just to be in two scenes. Just by training those people, he chose the front rankers, the middle rankers and the back rankers. Before he started shooting for Raajneeti, he conducted workshops these crowds for one-and-a-half years. Today, when you go to Bhopal, you’ll find such disciplined junior artists. On his psychotic character in Aks [caption id=“attachment_12600352” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Aks[/caption] Today, if I’m given that role again, I feel I could do better. I would do it differently and far better. That time, it was called ahead of its time. For me, it was not Raghavan, I had to get the definition of evil right. The script is about the good vs evil, now what is evil. Evil can be dark, flirtatious, attractive, smart, sharp, and he’s all of them. I had to get all of these into one personality and it took me six months to get this character right. I took that evil smile from Joker. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .