Born in a small village inBihar, Bajpayee aspired to become an actor since childhood.[1] He relocated to Delhi at the age of seventeen, and applied for theNational School of Drama, only to be rejected four times.[2] He continued to do theatre while studying in college. Bajpayee made his feature film debut with minor roles inDrohkaal (1994) andBandit Queen (both 1994). He had his breakthrough playing a gangster inRam Gopal Varma's 1998 crime dramaSatya,[3] for which he won theNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actor andFilmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.[4] He then acted in films such asKaun? (1999) andShool (1999). For the latter, he won his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.[5]
Bajpayee was born in a HinduBrahmin family[8] on 23 April 1969 in a small village called Belwa near the cityBettiah inWest Champaran,Bihar.[9] He is the second child among his five other siblings, and was named after actorManoj Kumar.[10][11] One of his younger sisters Poonam Dubey, is a fashion designer in the film industry.[12] His father was a farmer and his mother was a housewife. As a son of a farmer, Bajpayee would do farming during their vacation.[10] Since childhood, he wanted to become an actor.[13]
His father struggled to gather funds for their education. He studied in a "hut school" till fourth standard, and later did his schooling atKhrist Raja High School, Bettiah.[14][11] He completed his 12th class from Maharani Janaki Kunwar College in Bettiah.[13]
He moved to New Delhi at the age of seventeen and went toSatyawati, then toRamjas College,Delhi University.[11] Bajpayee had heard about theNational School of Drama from actors such asOm Puri andNaseeruddin Shah, so he applied. He was rejected three times and wanted to commit suicide afterward.[10] He then attended director and acting coachBarry John's workshop after actorRaghubir Yadav's suggestion. Impressed by Bajpayee's acting, John hired him to assist him in his teaching.[11] After that he applied at the National School of Drama for the fourth time, and they offered him a teaching position at the school instead.[11]
Bajpayee was married to a girl from Delhi, but got divorced during his period of struggle.[9] He met actressShabana Raza, who is also known as Neha, right after her debut filmKareeb (1998). The couple married in 2006 and they have a daughter.[15][16]
Following his one-minute role inGovind Nihalani'sDrohkaal (1994),[13] Bajpayee acted in the biographical dramaBandit Queen (1994).Tigmanshu Dhulia, the casting director of the film suggested his name to its directorShekhar Kapur.[17] Bajpai was considered for the role of dacoit Vikram Mallah in the film, which eventually went toNirmal Pandey.[11] Bajpayee got the role ofdacoit Mann Singh in the film. During that time, he also did a television serial calledKalakaar, directed byHansal Mehta andImtihaan (Doordarshan).[11]
Bajpayee was a struggling actor whenMahesh Bhatt offered him the soap operaSwabhimaan (1995), which aired onDoordarshan.[18] He agreed to do the serial at a low fee.[19] Next, Bajpayee appeared in minor roles in films such asDastak (1996) andTamanna (1997).[20] DirectorRam Gopal Varma discovered Bajpayee when he was casting forDaud (1997), a comedy film, where he had a supporting role. Following completion of the filming, Varma expressed his regret for offering Bajpayee a minor role.[21] He then promised Bajpayee a prominent role in his next film.[18]Satya (1998), a crime drama, was their next film together. In the film, Bajpayee played gangster Bhiku Mhatre, who accompanies the title character to form their nexus in the Mumbai underworld.[22]
Satya was mostly shot in the real slums of Mumbai.[22] It was screened at the 1998International Film Festival of India and opened to mostly positive reviews.[23]Anupama Chopra called Bajpayee and others' performances "[..] so good that you can almost smell the Mumbai grime on their sweaty bodies."[22] The film was a commercial success, and Bajpayee won theNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actor andFilmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance.[24][25]Filmfare later included his performance in the 2010 issue of Bollywood's "Top 80 Iconic Performances".[26] Bajpayee then collaborated with Verma in the year 1999 withKaun? andShool; with Verma directing the former and producing the latter.Kaun, was awhodunit with only three characters in a house, where Bajpayee played an annoying talkative stranger.[27] The film was abox office disappointment.[28]Shool saw him play the role of an honest police officer who finds himself in the politician-criminal nexus of theMotihari district in Bihar.Sify labelled Bajpayee's performance in the film as "truly amazing [..] especially the emotional scenes withRaveena Tandon."[29] The film won theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, with Bajpayee winning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance.[30] He also acted in the Telugu romantic filmPrema Katha (1999).[31]
Bajpayee's next roles were inJaago (2004) opposite Raveena Tandon,Makarand Deshpande'sHanan and the thrillerInteqam.[42] InJaago, he played a police officer who takes the situation into his own hands, after his 10-year-old daughter is raped and killed.[43] The same year, he appeared in a supporting role inYash Chopra's romantic dramaVeer-Zaara (2004). The film was screened at the55th Berlin Film Festival, and grossed over₹940 million (US$11 million) globally, becomingthe highest-grossing film of the year.[44][45] In 2005, Bajpayee acted inDharmesh Darshan's dramaBewafaa, the thrillerFareb, and the English language filmReturn to Rajapur.[46][47][48] He also acted in the Telugu romanceHappy (2006).[49]
In 2007, Bajpayee played Major Suraj Singh in1971. The film tells the story of sixIndian army soldiers, who escape from the Pakistani prison after they were captured during theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971.[50]Rajeev Masand ofCNN-IBN, criticised the film but wrote: "[Bajpayee] is in great form, he holds back mostly and in the process, constructs a character that says more with his eyes than with words."[51] He next starred oppositeJuhi Chawla inGanesh Acharya's drama filmSwami.[52] Bajpayee's final release of the year was theanthology filmDus Kahaniyaan. He acted in theSanjay Gupta – directed storyZahir alongsideDia Mirza.[53] All of his 2007 releases were financial failures. Next year, he starred in the ensemble comedyMoney Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008), which was also a box office disaster.[41]
Bajpayee's shoulder got injured while filming the Telugu filmVedam, and was absent from the screen for nearly two years.[54] He then returned in a major role with the comedyJugaad (2009), which was based on the2006 Delhi sealing drive incident.[55] His next release was the mystery thrillerAcid Factory (2009), which was a remake of the 2006 American filmUnknown.[56] He played a comic role of one among the people who are kidnapped and locked in a factory with no memory of how they came there. The film did not do well at the box office.[57] The string of financial failures continued with his next release.[58] InMadhur Bhandarkar'sJail (2009), he played a convict serving life imprisonment. He called his role a "narrator" and "mentor" of its protagonist (played byNeil Nitin Mukesh).[57][59]
In 2010, Bajpayee starred inPrakash Jha's big-budget ensemble political thrillerRaajneeti.Nikhat Kazmi ofThe Times of India in her review mentioned that Bajpayee "[..] grab[s] eyeballs in [his] scenes" and "brings back memories of his mesmeric performances."[60] Indian trade journalists were apprehensive ofRaajneeti recovering its₹600 million (US$7.1 million) investment.[61] The film, however, proved to be a major commercial success, with worldwide earnings of over₹1.43 billion (US$17 million).[45] Bajpayee received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at Filmfare for the film.[62] He then acted in two Telugu films;Vedam (2010) andPuli (2010), followed by the comedyDus Tola (2010).[63] He also provided the voice ofRama in the animated filmRamayana: The Epic, which was based on the Indian epicRamayana.[64]
Aarakshan (2011), a socio-drama based on the issue ofcaste based reservations in Indian, was Bajpayee's next film. The film sparked controversy in some groups and was banned inUttar Pradesh,Punjab andAndhra Pradesh before its theatrical release.[65] Trade journalists had high expectations for the film, but it ultimately flopped at the box office.[66][67] Bajpayee's followup was the thrillerLanka (2011).[68]
In 2012, Bajpayee appeared inAnurag Kashyap's two-part crime filmGangs of Wasseypur. His character Sardar Khan appeared in the first one. To prepare for his role, Bajpayee shaved his head and lost four kilogram of weight.[69] It premiered at the2012 Cannes Film Festival,[70]Toronto film festival,[71] and theSundance Film Festival in 2013.[72]Gangs of Wasseypur released in India on 22 June to positive response. Anupama Chopra called it his best performance since Bhiku Mhatre inSatya.[73] For his performance in the film, Bajpayee was nominated for theFilmfare Award for Best Actor.[74] His next film was the historical dramaChittagong (2012), based on theChittagong armoury raid. Bajpai portrayed the Bengali independence fighterSurya Sen in it, for which he charged no money.[75] His final release of the year wasChakravyuh, where he played aNaxalite; a role which required him to lose 5 kilograms weight.[76] Writer and lyricistJaved Akhtar calledChakravyuh "the best film of last 20 years".[77] On the contrary, a review carried byIndia Today called it an "amateurish attempt", but praised Bajpayee's acting.[78]
Bajpayee continued to play negative roles with his next filmTevar (2015). A remake of the 2003Telugu filmOkkadu, the film opened to negative reviews and was a box office failure.[87][88] The same year, he along with Raveena Tandon, appeared in the patriotic-themed short filmJai Hind. With a run-time of 6 minutes, the film was released on YouTube byOYO Rooms, right before theIndian Independence Day.[89] Bajpayee acted in another short film titledTaandav in 2016. Directed byDevashish Makhija, the film showcased the pressure and scenarios faced by an honest police constable, and was released on YouTube.[90] The same year, he portrayed professorRamchandra Siras, in Hansal Mehta's biographical dramaAligarh. The story followed the life of a homosexual professor who was expelled fromAligarh Muslim University because of his sexuality. Bajpayee watched a few clippings of Siras to prepare for his role.[91] The film was screened at the20th Busan International Film Festival, and the 2015Mumbai Film Festival.[92][93]Aligarh was released on 26 February 2016 to positive reviews.[94] Bajpayee won the Best Actor award at the 10thAsia Pacific Screen Awards and his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.[95][96] He next played a traffic constable inRajesh Pillai'sswan songTraffic (2016). A remake of theMalayalam film of the same name, the film was released on 6 May 2016.[97] His subsequent release of the year was the biographical sports filmBudhia Singh – Born to Run, where he played the coach ofBudhia Singh; the world's youngest marathon runner.[98]It was followed by the comedy filmSaat Uchakkey (2016) and the short filmOuch directed by Neeraj Pandey.[99][100]
Bajpayee receiving the Padma Shri in 2019
Bajpayee's first release of 2017 was the spy thrillerNaam Shabana, aspin-off to the 2015 filmBaby withTaapsee Pannu reprising her role as Shabana.[101] The same year, he reunited with Ram Gopal Varma for the crime dramaSarkar 3. It was the third instalment in theSarkar film series. In the film, his character was loosely based onArvind Kejriwal.[102] Later that year, Bajpayee appeared briefly in the drama filmRukh.[103]
In Devashish Makhija'sBhonsle, Bajpayee played a terminally ill retired Mumbai cop who befriends a North Indian girl when the locals are trying to get rid of the migrants in the city.[115] The film and his performance met with positive response from critics withNamrata Joshi calling his acting "astounding in his internalisation of Bhonsle and acts with not just his face but by deploying his whole body."[116] The role earned him his firstNational Film Award for Best Actor and second Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor.[117][118]
In 2019, he was given India's fourth highest civilian honourPadma Shri for his contributions to art.[119] The same year he portrayed dacoitMan Singh inAbhishek Chaubey's action filmSonchiriya.Raja Sen in his review wrote that Bajpayee is "excellent as a rebel chief."[120] Later, he appeared in the spy action drama web seriesThe Family Man, directed byRaj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. Bajpayee played the role ofSrikant Tiwari, a middle-class man who secretly works for an intelligence agency. The series and his performance received positive response from critics with Rohit Naahar ofHindustan Times writing: "Manoj Bajpayee is, as he usually tends to be, effortlessly excellent."[121] He won the Critics Choice Best Actor, Drama Series Award at the 2020Filmfare OTT Awards.[122]
Director Ram Gopal Varma considers him to be "an education" for himself and said he is "simply the best actor I've ever worked with."[21] Shekhar Kapur, who directed him inBandit Queen, recalls: "Manoj had the ability to portray a lot just by doing little. He never tried to overplay a scene and seemed totally comfortable with a minimalist statement."[21] According to director Hansal Mehta, Manoj "has the ability to transform himself like few others."[135]
Bajpayee's performance as Bhiku Mhatre inSatya is considered to be one of the most memorable characters of Hindi cinema, along with his dialogue in it: "Mumbai ka king kaun? Bhiku Mhatre" (Who is the king of Mumbai? Bhiku Mhatre).[136][137][138][139]Kay Kay Menon credits this character as a turning point for other method actors: "If it were not for Manoj's brilliant performance inSatya, actors likeIrrfan and me might still be waiting to be accepted. Manoj opened the doors for us."[11] Writing about the character in his bookPopcorn Essayists, journalist-writerJai Arjun Singh wrote that "the "earthiness" and the "authenticity" [of the character], was the subtle result of a persistence in Bajpai's performance."[140]
^Ali, Asad; Usman, Yasser (12 December 2014)."#Dialoguebaazi: The tough men".Hindustan Times.Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved10 December 2015.
