 "Manoj Bajpayee on his inter-faith marriage with Shabana Raza: 'She's a proud Muslim, and I'm a proud Hindu, but…'")
Manoj Bajpayee got married to former actress Shabana Raza over 18 years ago. In an interview with Jist, when asked about his inter-faith marriage, Bajpayee said, “There were no problems, because my parents were broad-minded and her parents were broad-minded too. That’s why we did not face any problems. Secondly, two people have to spend their life together.”
In an earlier interview with Barkha Dutt on Mojo Story, this is what Manoj had to say, “I come from a Brahmin family, a feudal family. Her family had a lot of reputation and prestige to their name. But surprisingly, none of my family members ever objected to it. Never, till now.” He added, “She’s a proud Muslim, and I’m a proud Hindu, but it doesn’t clash with each other.”
On meeting Shabana Raza for the first time
For 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.
On the boom of OTT
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.