Manoj Bajpayee says he was discarded when Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay Menon became the ‘first choice’: ‘I was down and out’

He said, “I realised that I don’t want to do what they are expecting me to do. All the offers that were coming my way weren’t something that I could fit myself into. Yes, the money was good. I had no money, no work, and the biggest producers were coming to me. They came with suitcases full of money, and to say no to it was the toughest task I have ever faced. That was the time when egos were very big. People used to get offended very easily. And with every no, I was making more enemies.”

He said that by the time he did Pinjar and 1971, he was ‘done’. He continued, “Then, Irrfan and Kay Kay Menon were coming up, they became the first choice, and I was nowhere. I had no work, I was down and out.”

But now, Manoj is one of the most respected actors in the country, and the star of one of India’s biggest streaming hits, The Family Man. He last starred in the Disney+ Hotstar film Gulmohar, alongside Sharmila Tagore and an ensemble of actors of different generations.