Manoj Bajpayee, the anti-star who made vulnerability the new masculinity

After moving to Mumbai from Delhi around 1993, an alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi University, began his career with the breakthrough role in Satya (1998). Despite failing to get into the National School of Drama (NSD) four times, he received training under theatre master Barry John. No matter how big of a star he is now, the actor has always emphasises how his roots are still in Bihar.

Manoj Bajpayee in Gangs Of Wasseypur

During a conversation with his Killer Soup co-star Konkona Sensharma for SCREEN, Bajpayee had spoken about his struggle, “It really prepares you, physically, mentally, emotionally. It really aligns you, and that happens to every actor. But the days were of complete poverty. But those days were when you could not get the time to think about poverty. If you don’t have money to eat, you’re not thinking about eating, because you’re so involved and engrossed in what you’re doing, you’re forgetting that you didn’t have food.”

ALSO READ | ‘25 people in a 2-BHK’: Saurabh Shukla recalls sharing a house with Manoj Bajpayee, ‘depressing’ parties of struggling actors

Rise of the Anti-star

Today, the 56-year-old holds a rising graph with himself, starting from Shool in 1999 to Prime Video’s web show The Family Man. Bhiku Matre in Satya – vulnerable, terrifying, Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur – complex, brutal, to Prof. Siras in Aligarh – lonely, private. Most of Manoj Bajpayee’s films have surpassed expectations, emerging as classics. His career was bright colourful and versatile, without any flashy songs, female actors dancing around him and cliched dialogues.

Not to mention, if you clearly notice his choice of projects over the last few years, you will see that he has aged into relevance, rather than chasing stardom. He was an early adapter to the streaming era with The Family Man.

Manoj Bajpayee in The Family Man

Ruling hearts, generation by generation

Then, the actor went on to deliver more iconic content pieces digitally, including Despatch, The Killer Soup, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Joram, and many others. And with these relatable roles, Bajpayee became a hero to GenZs as well. And for his future film choices, he keeps mentioning how he wants to stick to intense and realistic characters, instead of the typical masala movies.

In December 2024, Bajpayee spoke to Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, The Indian Express, during an Idea Exchange session. He said, “Stars have changed, the genre has changed. Mainstream films used to have a very concrete storyline, even in the days of Rajesh Khanna. If you name five Rajesh Khanna films right now, all of them were directed by the greats of Hindi cinema, all of them had great songs and great music directors. I would love to be part of it. At the same time, since the films were played on the big screen, the stars all looked larger than life. Even the character actors looked larger than life.”

He continued, “Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan were organic superstars, but now superstars are also created through social media. It is completely PR-driven and whoever is good at it, whoever has deep pockets, a hype is created around them. So real stardom lasted only till the time technology became a big thing. But the one thing that will always survive is the story.”

Well, Happy Birthday, Manoj Bajpayee!