‘No fun in performing if I can’t be different’
Manoj Bajpayee, who is known to juggle contentdriven and commercial cinema with consummate ease, says that he approaches each character differently. “I have no formula to play any character. I approach each of them differently. I could play a middle-class man, a police officer 50 times, but it has to be different every time,” says Bajpayee.
“Otherwise what is the fun of performing? Also, the approach needs to be changed depending on the kind of film it is,” says Bajpayee, referring to his upcoming film Satyameva Jayate, which he calls a “commercial” project.
Before Satyameva Jayate, Bajpayee has played men in uniform in films such as Shool (1999), LOC Kargil (2003), 1971 (2007), Special 26 (2013), and Baaghi 2. Providing an insight into his character of DCP Shivansh in the John Abraham-starrer, Bajpayee says, “It is an action-thriller where a cat-mouse fight is happening between the two characters — a police officer and a criminal.”
The actor has travelled to various prestigious international film festivals with films such as Pinjar (2003), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), and Aligarh (2016). He attended the Cannes Film Festival to unveil the poster of his upcoming film Bhonsle.
“We wanted to submit the film this year for the Cannes Film Festival, but a little work on the post-production is left. That’s why we could not submit the film. So, we thought of going there and unveiling its poster,” he says.
“We all have been working on the film for the last four years. It is one of the projects that are close to my heart,” said the actor. What does he have to say about Indian cinema vis-àvis international cinema? “The journey of Indian cinema... in the mind of global audiences started from the era of iconic (talents) like Satyajit Ray, Mani Kaul, Basu Bhattacharya, Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani...where our films [were] watched, celebrated at international film festivals and people saw India through our films,” says Bajpayee.
“These days though we are making several content-driven and independent films, and travelling to festivals also, I think somewhere we are falling short to earn the amount of respect that our elders did... Somewhere we have to find the rooted story that touches million hearts beyond cultural and geographical boundaries,” the actor explains.