Monday Motivation: Manoj Bajpayee is the face of Hindi films, who gradually became the favorite of the audience. To quietly make a place for yourself among actors like Shahrukh, Salman and Ranbir-Ranveer is indeed praiseworthy. It is not that there was any laxity in Manoj Bajpayee’s acting in the beginning, which later improved with time. If there had been laxity, then the mad inspector of ‘Bhikhu Mhatre’ and ‘Shool’ would not have been talked about on many occasions even today. The only difference is that it took some time for him to get fame.
In the year 2023, he talked about his struggles in the Earth Cultural Fest. Manoj had said, “When there is no work, there is a lot of work.” Manoj had told how he handled things like failure and rejection in the beginning of his career.
Manoj had said, “People are rejecting you, it does not mean at all that you are nothing.” You cannot be defined by failure. And in the same way, even if you are successful, it does not mean that you can be defined by this.
Just looking for that special opportunity to prove myself
Manoj Bajpayee had told that when he was at the lowest level, he knew that he just needed that one shot to prove himself. He said something amazing, “Even when I was failing, I was not a bad actor. I was simply unsuccessful in terms of market and commercial aspects. But my perspective is that what I was doing was not a failure. I just knew one thing that I would get a chance and I would make a comeback.
The journey to becoming ‘Sardar Khan’ was full of difficulties
Whatever Manoj Bajpayee faced to reach Sardar Khan of Gangs of Wasseypur is as interesting as it sounds, but it is also disturbing. Manoj Bajpayee had told in an interview that when he had to come to Delhi for studies after 12th, he did not even know that there was such a thing as ticket reservation. Things were not easy for Manoj, who came to Delhi at the age of 17. When he was applying for admission in the National School of Drama in Delhi, he was getting rejected every time. After being rejected thrice, when Raghubir Yadav advised him to attend Barry John’s workshop, he did so. The interesting thing is that he was offered the position of a teacher in NSD and not a student.
Hard work doesn’t hide, it becomes visible
Manoj Bajpayee got his first break in Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Bandit Queen’. But he got real recognition from the role of Bhikhu Mhatre in ‘Satya’. Both Ram Gopal Varma and Manoj Bajpayee have talked on many occasions that Varma had sought him out and offered him this role. This is because in those days there were no social media and mobile phones, hence it was difficult for Director Verma to contact Manoj. So the thing is that if you are facing rejection despite working hard, it does not mean that people are seeing your failure. Someone somewhere is seeing how much potential you have and what you can do. This story of Manoj is also a lesson because if he had not become Bhikhu Mhatre, he would not have been entertaining as a ‘family man’ today.
In an interview with Mashable India, Manoj had said that it is not that his lifestyle has changed overnight. After getting the work, it took him 6 years to build his house.
Fame is slipping away and the struggle to make a place continues
In the 70-80s, when actors like Amitabh, Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna were famous, Sanjeev Kumar had quietly made his place. He remained sitting in his own made seat as long as he could. The audience kept liking it. This story seemed to be repeating itself with Manoj Bajpayee also. Manoj Bajpayee was being liked with small roles in Shool, Satya and even Veer Zara.
People were talking about him, but he was not getting fame. In between, there would be a film in which the critics never got tired of praising Manoj Bajpayee’s acting, like his role in the film Dus Kahaniyaan was praised. But again he missed coming in that ‘fame’ category. Manoj Bajpayee had also said that your rejection does not mean that you are not good at your work. And he also proved this with the film Gangs of Wasseypur. After this, Manoj Bajpayee went into films and OTT. And you also know the position we have reached today.
This story of Manoj Bajpayee is just to remind you that if you are ‘failing’, it does not mean at all that you are not better at your work, you just have to persist. Someone must be watching you too. Somewhere, at some point or the other, the same Manoj Bajpayee ‘fame’ which sometimes gets delayed, but must be waiting for you.