Manoj Bajpayee says daughter Ava, wife Shabana fight with him for not spending time at home: ‘My kid says I don’t know anything about her life’

Gulmohar, Sirf Ke Bandaaa Kaafi Hai, Joram, Killer Soup and now Secrets of the Buddha Relics — in the last couple of years we’ve seen him delivering back to back hits, and all of them being critically appreciated. On this, Manoj said, “Let me tell you that I am very happy. I feel lucky and blessed that I am still relevant and things have started changing (for me) because of the advent of OTT. I count my blessings every day. If people are liking (my) films, then that was always the intention when we set out to make it. There also you can only say thank you very much because my intention was to make a good film, give a good performance. So if everything is aligning right, you feel blessed; and sometimes it does land right because you know that in the past things have gone wrong.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Manoj Bajpayee (@bajpayee.manoj)

When asked if he gets any time off from work, or is he like his eponymous ‘family man’ in real life too, the actor says, that while his family understands his situation, his daughter often confronts him for not spending time with her. He shares, “My family understands that today he is not sitting at home and waiting for the next project to happen or a good film to land in his lap. So they are happy but sometimes they fight with me too, but most of the time they are very happy for me. They have seen me through the years, been with me through thick and thin, so I don’t think there is any problem. But my little one fights with me. She says, ‘you don’t know anything, you don’t know anything about my math, what problem I am having, so now I have to go and meet her math teacher (laughs)!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Manoj Bajpayee (@bajpayee.manoj)

Most of Manoj’s films are appreciated for the intense content, does he not get temped to do a commercial masala film since that’s the trend today? On this, the actor who shies away from the “star” tag, says, “Commercial films karne se mujhe bilkul parhez nahi hai (I don’t mind doing commercial films at all). In fact I have done some too, Baaghi 2 (2018) is a big masala movie, so is Satyameva Jayate (2018). I personally think actors should not have favourites in terms of genres. They should evolve so much in their art that they can genre hop all the time because every genre has something to teach you. This has been my endeavour for many years, to really hone my craft in such a way that I could handle Baghi 2, Satyameva Jayate and then do middle-of-the-road Special 26 or Aiyaari. Then you go to independent cinema and indulge there too with the directors and are able see their vision and execute it as an actor. So this has been a fascinating journey for me definitely. There is a film called Bhaiyyaji that I have co-produced, it is a mainstream film. So I don’t mind these films.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Manoj Bajpayee (@bajpayee.manoj)

Discussing what would really get him to do a masala film once again, he says, “The script should be fantastic and the intention of the makers is very important for me. If they are trying to fit in the scheme of things just because yeh chal raha hai (because it is the trend) then I won’t get into it. I personal feel that it should come from your belief system, only then anything you do, any genre, it may or may not find the audience immediately, the number of audience today, but you may find it in years to come. I am always a fellow warrior with my directors, I am not somebody leading it, if at all I am their soldier.”

Manoj then opened up about being associated with the ‘Secrets’ franchise on discovery+ with filmmaker Neeraj Pandey. He has anchored the first two installements in the series — Secrets Of Sinauli and Secrets of the Kohinoor — and will now be seen hosting Secrets of the Buddha Relics releasing on January 22.

He says, “I want to tell the world that I attach myself to Neeraj Pandey and anything that he does, whether it is the franchise of ‘Secrets’ or anything that we have done in the past, and anything, god willing, we’ll do in the future. It is his mind that completely fascinates me. It is his values and integrity with which he approaches his work. That completely fascinates me and I relate to it.”