“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.
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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.