MUMBAI: Although Manoj Bajpayee is not modest, he also doesn't brag about his successes. The 54-year-old actor talks openly and enthusiastically about the love he gets from the public as well as the reason he's taking on back-to-back projects. Manoj is among the most talked-about "family man" in the OTT space and is delighted about his ability to "genre hop" as an actor during a time when most people are following trends.

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Manoj shares that he wants to take advantage of all the options that are available to him right now. In addition, he talks about his family, revealing how his daughter Ava gets into arguments with him over not spending enough time at home.

The last few years have seen him produce back-to-back hits, all of which have received positive reviews: Gulmohar, Sirf Ke Bandaaa Kaafi Hai, Joram, Killer Soup, and now Secrets of the Buddha Relics. In response, Manoj stated, “Let me tell you that I am very happy. I feel lucky and blessed that I am still relevant and things have started changing (for me) because of the advent of OTT. I count my blessings every day. If people are liking (my) films, then that was always the intention when we set out to make it. There also you can only say thank you very much because my intention was to make a good film, give a good performance. So if everything is aligning right, you feel blessed; and sometimes it does land right because you know that in the past things have gone wrong.”

The actor responds that although his family respects his situation, his daughter frequently confronts him for not spending enough time with her. This is in response to the question of whether he takes time off from work or if he is really like his fictional "family man."

He shares, “My family understands that today he is not sitting at home and waiting for the next project to happen or a good film to land in his lap. So they are happy but sometimes they fight with me too, but most of the time they are very happy for me. They have seen me through the years, been with me through thick and thin, so I don’t think there is any problem. But my little one fights with me. She says, ‘you don’t know anything, you don’t know anything about my math, what problem I am having, so now I have to go and meet her math teacher (laughs)!”

Manoj's films are often praised for their deep subject. However, given the current trend, is he not tempted to undertake a mainstream masala film? The actor avoids the label of "star," remarks on this, saying, “Commercial films karne se mujhe bilkul parhez nahi hai (I don’t mind doing commercial films at all). In fact I have done some too, Baaghi 2 (2018) is a big masala movie, so is Satyameva Jayate (2018). I personally think actors should not have favourites in terms of genres. They should evolve so much in their art that they can genre hop all the time because every genre has something to teach you. This has been my endeavour for many years, to really hone my craft in such a way that I could handle Baghi 2, Satyameva Jayate and then do middle-of-the-road Special 26 or Aiyaari. Then you go to independent cinema and indulge there too with the directors and are able see their vision and execute it as an actor. So this has been a fascinating journey for me definitely. There is a film called Bhaiyyaji that I have co-produced, it is a mainstream film. So I don’t mind these films.”

Speaking about what would truly motivate him to work on a masala movie again, he states, “The script should be fantastic and the intention of the makers is very important for me. If they are trying to fit in the scheme of things just because yeh chal raha hai (because it is the trend) then I won’t get into it. I personal feel that it should come from your belief system, only then anything you do, any genre, it may or may not find the audience immediately, the number of audience today, but you may find it in years to come. I am always a fellow warrior with my directors, I am not somebody leading it, if at all I am their soldier.”

Manoj then talked candidly about his connection to director Neeraj Pandey's "Secrets" franchise on Discovery+. Secrets of the Buddha Relics, which premieres on January 22, will be hosted by him after he anchored the first two installments of the series, Secrets of Sinauli and Secrets of the Kohinoor.

He says, “I want to tell the world that I attach myself to Neeraj Pandey and anything that he does, whether it is the franchise of ‘Secrets’ or anything that we have done in the past, and anything, god willing, we’ll do in the future. It is his mind that completely fascinates me. It is his values and integrity with which he approaches his work. That completely fascinates me and I relate to it.”

(Also read: Must Read! Manoj Bajpayee reveals how he had to do dirty films to make ends meet, says “They came with suitcases full of money, and to say no was the toughest task”

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Credit- The Indian Express