Manoj Bajpayee in an interview with mid-day talks about his upcoming film 'Budhia Singh – Born To Run', and how the idea of playing a dark character excites him like no other and more...
Manoj Bajpayee
Manoj Bajpayee had thought 2016 would be his career-best year. Apart from two short films, 'Taandav' and 'Kriti', there were two other releases — 'Aligarh' and 'Traffic'. Then there's the upcoming 'Budhia Singh – Born To Run', apart from 'Missing' and 'Saat Uchakkey', also in the pipeline. It hasn't been a smooth ride, though. 'Aligarh' battled censor issues, 'Traffic' director, Rajesh Pillai, passed away just before the film hit theatres and 'Kriti' was embroiled in a copyright row. More controversy was in store for Manoj whose alleged remark referring to Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani as a "spent force" led the latter to say that he was "waiting for Manoj's career to take off." We caught up with the actor, who is now in the midst of promoting 'Budhia Singh – Born To Run'. Excerpts from the chat:
ADVERTISEMENT
Manoj Bajpayee
Q. Of late, controversies seem to be keeping you company...
A. That's how life is in this industry. I have moved on and do not want to comment on it. I prefer my acting to do the talking. I want to play all kinds of roles.
Q. You are more drawn to portraying slice-of-life characters.
A. The character has to excite me and make me go that extra length. In Budhia Singh, I am playing the character of coach Biranchi Das, who trained Budhia Singh. I learnt Odia since I wanted to get the nuances right. He was also a judo coach and so, I also learnt the sport. That was something new. Playing a real character is both challenging and scary.
Q. You are turning producer with Missing. How has the experience been?
A. It has been a learning process, one more challenge that I took upon myself to understand what goes on behind the cameras.
Q. Your film, Saat Uchakkey, has been pending with the Censor Board for two years over excessive use of cuss words in the trailer.
A. Things are moving forward on that front. We hope to release it later this year.
Q. What's next on your agenda?
A. I am hungry for more negative roles. It's been a while since I did it.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
