Manoj Bajpayee On His Journey To Stardom: I Left My Village At The Age Of 17 & A Half

Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most sought after actors in Bollywood. Making a mark in the industry with his film ‘Bandit Queen’, Manoj went on to grab spectacular roles in movies like ‘Dastak’, ‘Ghaatak’, ‘Satya’, ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ among others. The talented actor who came from a non-filmy background without any Godfather in B-town gradually became a popular name in the industry.

Recalling his struggle, Bajpayee told HT, “I have never had such a difficult time from the time I left my village at the age of 17 and a half. These four years were like 40 years. Everything was falling apart, once I got three projects: a series, a corporate film, one docudrama, and another series. In one day I was chucked out from all.”

But professional setbacks never really disheartened him, revealed Manoj. “What was fantastic was that the world was falling apart for me but I was not falling apart. I still feel how it was the make of me. After many years I realized the only thing that can break me is my personal loss. The professional side never used to bother me, even now it doesn’t now,” he said.

Bajpayee also spilled some inside secrets about filmmaker Anubhav Sinha who he met after completing his graduation at Aligarh Muslim University. The actor revealed that he began assisting Sinha for a play and later he invited him to Mumbai so as to pursue a career in acting, reports Mid-Day.

“I reached Anubhav Sinha’s house, he took me to a nice parlor, I got a massage on my head, nice haircut, he made me look like a clean Manoj Bajpayee. Then he took me to Pankaj Parashar’s house in Bandra. He looked at me and said, ‘Okay okay, done’,” he revealed.

“Anubhav Sinha used to tell me, ‘Do you know how much this drink costs?’ He used to rub it very hard. ‘This is scotch, do you know what is the difference between scotch and whiskey?’ he used to say. I used to hate him. But this is how Anubhav Sinha is. He used to keep scotch for himself and serve Old Monk to his poor friends, no matter how social he is on Twitter,” he shared.

Bajpayee truly deserves his hard-earned success. After all, he is among those legendary actors in the industry right now who breathe life into every character they play, lighting up the screen every time they enter the frame. We hope keeps entertaining us for many more years to come!

Cover Image Source

📣 Storypick is now on Telegram! Click here to join our channel (@storypick) and never miss another great story.