Playing with sound and silence

Manoj Bajpayee

It has been a busy four months for Manoj Bajpayee as he had two releases in Killer Soup and Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout, and shot for his maiden production Bhaiyya Ji. Amid this, the actor also served as the host for Secrets of the Buddha Relics, the third offering in Neeraj Pandey's docu-series Secrets. In April, it claimed the top spot among shows on Discovery+. That is heartening for the actor, who says he felt like a relative newcomer on the project. "I had never anchored before. I started with the first season as a newcomer. Through the series, I learnt [more about] voice, speech and how they are essential to storytelling. I had attended those classes as a theatre actor. That education paid off during the three seasons of this show," he says.

Neeraj Pandey

History has always fascinated Bajpayee. So, when Secrets of the Buddha Relics - which explores the origins, cultural significance, and the stories surrounding the relics that are at the centre of Buddhism - came his way, he jumped at the opportunity. Luckily, he got more than he bargained for. The docu-series also became a platform to go beyond acting. "A series of this nature comes to life after many years of research, animation and editing. My job starts after that. It has been tedious and beautiful. Making it engaging for the audience through speech is a skill, and I learnt it purely on this show. It gave me a chance to do something beyond being an actor. With this, I did something over and above my regular line of work; I got to go away from my everyday life."

The actor is hopeful of another season. Given that the documentary space is booming, he is happy to have hopped on the bandwagon early on, and that too with an accomplished creator-showrunner like Pandey. "Secrets makes me feel educated for the period I'm working on it. This show is indicative of the untapped potential of the documentary format. I have no idea how Neeraj Pandey plans to take the show ahead. I am always available for him, I admire him greatly as an artiste and a thinking mind."