Struggle teaches you a lot of things, and I am happy that I witnessed a roller coaster ride. The journey has improved me as a person and made me more mature.
Manoj Bajpayee
It is important to move on from the laurels of the past. I can't let success go to my head.
I think theatre is an actor's medium, while cinema is a director's medium.
The 10 years of theatre prepared me not only as an actor but also as a human being. It gave me the habit of reading, watching, and preserving.
My job is to take out the negativity from a positive guy and take out the positivity from a negative guy. I don't play positive or negative roles. This is what I find fascinating about acting.
My career has been a roller coaster ride. And every actor experiences that phase.
I have always believed that an actor cannot afford to have a favorite genre. He must excel in every kind of film and fit in with every director's vision.
Films like 'Satyamev Jayate' help in getting some distributors and financiers for films like 'Gali Guleiyan' which give me a lot of satisfaction.
I have a lot of respect for PM Narendra Modi, as he works hard day and night and doesn't sleep more than 4 hours. So I am thinking of gifting him chewing gum, as he will chew that and will take rest and take care of his health.
I personally feel that no human is a hero or a villain. All of us have our grey sides, and that is why grey interests me: because it's more human, more life-like.
Nepotism has always existed in Bollywood.
I am not Padma Shri Manoj Bajpayee. I am Manoj Bajpayee, an outsider who saw dreams and stayed on the fringes of Mumbai and worked day and night to get work.
Earlier films were meant only for entertainment, but now filmmakers, who are products of these times, do not compromise on real stuff. That is why storytelling has become more convincing.
My father is somebody I admire and would like to be. He is a mild man and a gentleman. Even though he was from a conservative background, he was so open to my doing theatre.
For me, life is starting every day, every year. There's a lot to be done!
I am a family man. The only difference between me and others is that while they work in corporate offices, I am an actor. I, too, like to go back home after work. I don't mind stopping to pick up groceries.
There has to be some newness in the story or, at least, some aspect of the movie. I get bored if the story is told in the same way all the time. I get bored easily.
For me, if awards are not increasing my remuneration or adding value to the offers that I get, they have no meaning.
I am known by my performance, so neither do big films need me nor do I big films.
I knew I am not star material. I cannot sing or dance, nor am I good for action. I can only perform for which strong, diverse roles are needed.
I have made a career of flop films. And yet, 90 percent of my films are celebrated.
I don't like to work. I am not helpless without work. Work is an obsession for me.
For me, portraying a character is not about liking or disliking it; it's about meeting a challenge that's thrown at you.
There never were any roles for my kind of acting. That's the story of my life.
I work for the director, and if audience are happy, I have gotten my award. After that, I have to move on.
After 'Satya,' the industry could not think of me as anything but the villain. They were stereotyping me on the basis of my looks. I lost so much money refusing such roles - the purchase of a new house got delayed by seven years because I said no.
People should start appreciating films where women are at the centre.
I've accepted loads of criticism and sacrificed so much money to do what I wanted to do - which, in a very small way, contributed to making things easy for my kind of actors.
If you are working in the Hindi film industry, you cannot escape playing a police guy more than three times.
I feel proud when my old films are still talked about and 'Zubeidaa' is one of them. It has been directed by one of the great filmmakers of the country, Shyam Benegal.
The second child of a small farmer with six children, I come from a village in Bihar on the border of Nepal called Belwa. I was there till the age of 17 and studied in a Hindi-speaking boarding school run by Catholics in a nearby district town.
At 50-60, people either retire or they start falling sick, but 'Swami' is a person who will always remain strong. He has lots of expectations. He wants to fulfil his dreams and is very honest. First you play a character; then you play the age.
That's realism: a fact that if the audiences don't move out and watch good films at the theatre, people will stop making them.
For most actors, it is the script that chooses them and not the other way around.
Acting is the most difficult job in the world.
Watching an Amitabh Bachchan film in my village was a cinematic treat.
I don't think I play only serious characters.
I work at my own pace, and I work really well when I am not running around.
I am a mix of both my parents. Like my father, I don't let my dreams die; I'm shy and respect women. However, if I am pushed against the wall, I attack like my mother.
When you have a child, you have to have a hawk eye. You have to be with the child all the time.
An actor is nothing without the vision of the director. The director needs to have a vision that will cross boundaries, that makes the audience sit on the edge of their seats and that pushes the envelope.
I am not a star. My face is not the kind that 50,000 people will faint just looking at it.
Deconstructing your performance is the curse an actor has to live with. That's why I don't watch my films.
When I came to industry, theatre persons were regarded as those people who will only ask questions and will be an annoying factor on the set, and there was no preference given to them.
I don't take anything for granted from any director. I am just a slave of my director.
Before moving to Delhi at the age of 17, I had only travelled to Patna or Varanasi outside Belwa.
I've no problems with cuss words. All of us use them. Those who say they don't are lying. People can tolerate English cuss words but find the Hindi ones a bit revolting.
The kind of films and roles I do were never in competition with any star kid. Their aspirations are completely different.
Commercial cinema is necessary to get money, but to get respect, it's necessary to keep coming up with good content and giving a chance to the talent whose craft and skill is immaculate.
In 'Queen,' songs were the part of events happening in the story, and that is where we enjoy music. We dance at weddings, we lip sync at bars and discos, and there are special moments in life which need background music. It should be depicted in films in the same way.
