Manoj Bajpayee discusses acting, his role in 'Family Man', during 'In-Conversation' session at IFFI

Manoj Bajpayee. Pic/Sameer Markande

Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee, on Monday, virtually sat down for an 'In Conversation' session for the 'Creating Cult Icons: India's own James Bond with the family man' held on the sidelines of the 52nd International Film Festival of India in Goa. There he noted, "I never try to make the character larger than life. I always try to live in the reality and make the character a representative of the masses."

Addressing the session virtually, Manoj said that the life of the Indian middle class is a comedy and it is the inspiration and reference for all his characters. "I didn't need to search Srikant Tiwari, my character in the 'The Family Man' series anywhere else. I got it within me, in my family, in my surroundings and everywhere", he said. The actor said that 'The Family Man' is a great story of a middle-class Indian guy, who is trying to find a balance between a demanding job and a demanding family. "When Raj and DK came to me with the synopsis, I was sold out to it", added Manoj.

Director of 'The Family Man' Raj Nidimoru, Krishna D.K., famed as Raj and DK, while addressing the session said that they wanted to do a pan-India story. "The biggest expression of freedom that we experience when we started The Family Man series was why should we limit ourselves? To break the barrier and make the story pan-India, we reached out to the actors, crew and writers from different regions," stated the duo.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, noted actor of Telugu and Tamil film industry said that Raji, her character in the web series was the most vulnerable and challenging role for her and she sought a lot of handholding and training for this. "Raji was so new, unique and exciting. It allowed me to explore a new dimension and the actor in me couldn't refuse this challenge", she said.

Responding to a question on OTT, Samantha said that OTT is a platform that demands a strong story and empathy of character. "It's very difficult to engage the audience of a web series as we have to overcome many hurdles. The control is always at the hands of the audience," she added. Aparna Purohit, head of India Originals, Amazon Prime said that five years back the team went around moving door-to-door to creators and asked them for stories.

"It happened finally. We are thankful that Raj and DK choose us to tell their story. We are happy that today it transcends all barriers. It resonated within us and it touched audience across the globe," said Aparna. She said, "In India everything beautifully co-exists, so will OTT and the big screen. Engaging and compelling content will always capture the audience. We were able to thrive even during the most difficult phase of the pandemic through the power of art."

The 'In-Conversation' session held at IFFI 52 was moderated by actor Ankur Pathak. The session started with felicitation of the panel by Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Apurva Chandra in the presence of Festival Director Chaitanya Prasad. Founded in 1952, IFFI is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia that provides a genuine platform for exchanging ideas between young minds and established figures in film industries from around the world.

The 52nd edition of the International Film Festival of India that commenced on November 20 in Goa will run till November 28. Following the COVID-19 protocols, the film festival is being held in a hybrid format.

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