Manoj Bajpayee: ‘I keep myself away from playing famous figures’

Manoj Bajpayee

Manoj Bajpayee's desire to work with filmmaker Subhash Ghai can be best understood in an anecdote he reveals. "When I landed in Mumbai to become an actor, the first set I went to was Subhash-ji's Trimurti [1995] and the first office was Shyam Benegal's. Since Subhash-ji works with big stars, I knew I stood no chance, but I kept on trying my luck on his movie sets," he recalls. The then-aspiring actor's wish was to be fulfilled over 30 years on. Today, Bajpayee fronts the director's short film, Gandhi: A Perspective, and he couldn't be happier about it.

Subhash Ghai

"When I got a call to be directed by him in the short, I grabbed the opportunity. I admire the larger-than-life cinema he created. When I compare his films with today's mainstream entertainers, which are VFX-heavy, his cinema makes more sense," says the actor.

With Gandhi: A Perspective, Ghai wants the youth to better understand the renowned leader's ideals and values. Bajpayee says that the film shows how the Mahatma is "misrepresented" by people today. He shares, "Without understanding Gandhi-ji, people are commenting on him in a frivolous manner. That bothered Subhash-ji. He has written the script, which revolves around a teenager, who doesn't have much idea about Gandhi-ji and talks about him in a derogatory manner. His idea changes [when my character] familiarises him about the Mahatma's teachings."

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

The actor says that he has been fascinated with Gandhi since childhood, and has read extensively about the leader. So, would he like to play the Mahatma on screen? "I keep myself away from playing famous figures. If you give me a biopic of an unknown person, like Aligarh [2016] was [about Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras], I have freedom to give my own interpretation to it. But the moment you play a famous personality whose life has been read about and seen by everyone all over, people start critiquing it differently. They don't look at the actor's performance; instead, they get into comparisons of how successful the actor was in copying the real-life personality. I was offered to play Gandhi-ji in a web series, but I said no. Such projects require a year of prep. You have to change yourself mentally and physically as Gandhi-ji is not an easy personality to play. Watch Ben Kingsley's process in Gandhi [1982], and you understand how tedious it was for him to play the part."