Manoj Bajpayee

Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also credited as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian film actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done some Telugu and Tamil language films. He is the recipient of two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.

Born in Belwa, a small village in Narkatiaganj, Bihar, Bajpayee aspired to become an actor since childhood. He relocated to Delhi at the age of seventeen, and applied for National School of Drama, only to be rejected for three times. He continued to do theatre while studying in the college. Bajpayee made his feature film debut with the one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994), and a minor role of a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen (1994). After few unnoticed roles, he played gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough. Bajpayee received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film. He then acted in films like Kaun (1999), and Shool (1999). For the latter, he won another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. Bajpayee further played the role of a prince with two wives in Zubeidaa (2001), a serial killer in Aks (2001) and a hitchhiker-turned-psychopath killer in Road (2002).

Bajpayee won the Special Jury National Award for Pinjar (2003). This was followed by a series of brief, unnoticed roles in films that failed to propel his career forward. He then played a greedy politician in the political thriller Raajneeti (2010), which was well received. In 2012, Bajpayee essayed the role of Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur. His next roles were of a naxalite in Chakravyuh (2012) and a CBI officer in Special 26 (2013).

Bajpayee was born on 23 April 1969 in a small village called Belwa near the town Narkatiaganj in West Champaran, Bihar. He is the second child among his five other siblings, and was named after actor Manoj Kumar. One of his younger sisters Poonam Dubey, is a fashion designer in the film industry. His father was a farmer and mother was a housewife. As a son of a farmer, Bajpayee would do farming during their vacation. Since childhood, he wanted to become an actor. His father had difficulty collecting money for their education. He studied in a "hut school" till fourth standard, and later did his basic education from a school in Bettiah. He completed his class 12th from Maharani Janaki College in Bettiah. He moved to New Delhi at the age of seventeen and went to Satyawati, then to Ramjas College, Delhi University. Bajpayee had heard about National School of Drama from actors like Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, where he applied. He was rejected three times and wanted to commit suicide afterwards. He then did director and acting coach Barry John's workshop after actor Raghubir Yadav's suggestion. Impressed by Bajpayee's acting, John hired him to assist him in his teaching. After that he applied at the National School of Drama for the fourth time, they offered him a teaching position at the school instead.

Career

Following his one-minute role in Govind Nihalani's Drohkaal (1994), Bajpayee acted in the biographical drama Bandit Queen (1994). Tigmanshu Dhulia, the casting director of the film suggested his name to its director Shekhar Kapur. Bajpayee got the role of dacoit Mann Singh in the film. During that time, he also did a television serial called Kalakaar, directed by Hansal Mehta.

Bajpayee was a struggling actor when Mahesh Bhatt offered him the soap opera, Swabhimaan (1995), which aired on Doordarshan. He agreed to do the serial at a low fee. Next, Bajpayee appeared in minor roles in films like Dastak (1996) and Tamanna (1997).

Director Ram Gopal Varma discovered Bajpayee when he was casting for Daud (1997), a comedy film, where he had a supporting role. Following the completion of filming, Varma expressed his regret for offering Bajpayee a minor role. He then promised Bajpayee to give him a prominent role in his next film. Satya (1998), a crime drama, was their next film together. In the film, Bajpayee essayed the role of gangster Bhiku Mhatre, who accompanies the title character to form their nexus in the Mumbai underworld.

Satya was mostly shot in the real slums of Mumbai. It was screened at the 1998 International Film Festival of India and opened to mostly positive review. Anupama Chopra called Bajpayee and others' performances "..so good that you can almost smell the Mumbai grime on their sweaty bodies". The film was a commercial success, and Bajpayee won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance. Filmfare later included his performance in the 2010 issue of Bollywood's "Top 80 Iconic Performances".

Bajpayee then collaborated with Verma in the year 1999 with Kaun and Shool; with Verma directing the former and producing the latter. Kaun, was a whodunit with only three characters in a house, where Bajpayee played an annoying talkative stranger. The film was a box-office disappointment. Shool saw him play the role of an honest police officer who finds himself in the politician-criminal nexus of the Motihari district in Bihar. Sify labelled Bajpayee's performance in the film as "truly amazing  especially the emotional scenes with Raveena Tandon." The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, with Bajpayee winning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. He also acted in the Telugu romantic film Prema Katha (1999).

The year 2000 started for Bajpayee with the comedy Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! and the crime drama Ghaath, both alongside Tabu. A dialogue from the former sparked controversy in some political parties.

Bajpayee's first release in 2001 was Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's supernatural thriller Aks. His negative portrayal of Raghavan Ghatge, a criminal who dies and reincarnates in the body of Manu Verma (played by Amitabh Bachchan), garnered him the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination. It was followed by Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa, co-starring Rekha and Karishma Kapoor. He played Maharaja Vijayendra Singh of Fatehpur, a polo enthusiast prince with two wives. His character was inspired by Hanwant Singh, the Maharaja of Jodhpur.