Manoj Bajpayee: Our awards don’t celebrate cinema and work, they celebrate something else

Manoj Bajpayee is one of the finest actors we have in the industry. The two-time National Award winner has always won the hearts of the audience with his stellar performances. He has donned all kinds of characters in his 25 years of the acting career. He was recently seen in Abhishek Sharma’s ‘Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari’ where he was seen in a never-seen-before role. We recently had a video interaction with Manoj where he spoke about the movie, award functions and more.

He said, “It was a 180-degree change for me and I thought maybe this is a good chance for me given by director Abhishek Sharma so that I can let the audience to watch me in a different craft and they would get something new from me. By God’s grace, fortunately, everything fell in place. I have enjoyed a lot.”

Manoj has been honoured with lots of awards. When we asked him what keeps him so grounded, to which he said, “Mai aisa hi hoon. Shayad mere andar kuch aur hone ki zyada chahat nahin hain. It’s better to be who you are that people accept you the way you are. Initially, they hate your sight but after a point, they start accepting you and this is exactly what has happened to me in these 25 years. Initially, people thought that I am pretending and too arrogant or egoist but slowly and gradually they started understanding me and now they have accepted me. So, it’s always better to stick to who you are, stick to your conviction and what you believe in. This makes life easier in the days to come.”

In 2019, Manoj was conferred with the Best Actor trophy at the Asia Pacific Screen Award for ‘Bhonsle’. Recalling the moment, he said, “It is said that it’s a big thing to get nominated in the Asia Pacific Awards, and there are world great actors sitting beside you and you are nominated with them, so it’s a big thing in itself to be nominated. It was a great moment for me and I will cherish it forever. The way my name was announced, the way I was invited to the stage, the way all the great actors (who were nominees) stood for me and clapped, it’s an amazing sight. It’s a celebration of films and cinema in true sense. But we lack this here. We don’t celebrate cinema and work. We celebrate something else leaving the cinema behind.”

You can watch the interview here.

In 2016, he bagged the same award of best actor for his movie ‘Aligarh’.

Also Read: Abhishek Sharma: The out-of-the-box characters of Manoj Bajpayee, Diljit Dosanjh and Fatima Sana Shaikh is the film’s USP