Manoj Bajpai in search for perfection

One word that defines this actor best is consistency. Be it a low budget or high budget film, lesser known co-stars or the biggest names of the industry, actor Manoj Bajpai has stood his ground through it all. And his forthcoming offering, Lanka, is an intense drama inspired from a true story.

“Lanka is the story of two brothers who share a Ravan-Vibhishan relationship. My character, the elder brother, is a dominating, patriarchal person and commits the mistake of falling in love with a girl who doesn’t love him back. This woman goes on to become the reason of conflict between both the brothers,” he informs. Of course, there’s no denying the dark tinge to his character. “He is part evil, but in today’s time is there a person who is all Ram? It’s commonly believed that Lanka is the capital of evil — something that’s present in all of us but it’s the good within us that keeps the evil at check,” Manoj states. In Lanka, the actor shares screen space with youngsters Arjan Bajwa and Tina Bajpai. “They are new to the industry, ambitious, aggressive and raring to go and it’s quite a challenge for me to constantly be in search of perfection when with them,” he says, adding, “Working with veterans, on the other hand, is about a lot of calm and ease.”

It’s hard to forget his stellar performance as Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya but Manoj insists that Bhiku has been taken over by many subsequent performances. “People consider me to be a good actor rather than the performer in one particular film and that’s because of all the performance-oriented roles I’ve opted for,” he explains. And yes, there are no regrets. “Actually, I feel great to have travelled on my chosen path. I have done justice to all my projects —  film-makers, old and new, have trusted me — a trust that I have earned through good films and hard work,” he signs off.