A change…

Since last few days I have been trying to get along with people personally who think I’m a difficult person to understand or have some preconceived untruths about me. I have been meeting them irrespective of their will to reconcile or otherwise.

Experimenting is a way to truth as it would not be always right to think of yourselves as a righteous person. Recently many such incidents happened when people believed certain things about me and held grudges I didn’t even acknowledge. Even after this, when I forwarded my hand of friendship towards them either the relations worsened or reconciled. This is the change I have been witnessing in my nature these days and it feels good. Here, one feels and tries to get over the sense of ‘I’.

Since a last few months, it has become my habit to praise someone’s work if I like it, no matter I know the person or not. For instance, I really adored the work of Nishikant Kamath, director of Mumbai Meri Jaan; Neeraj Pandey, director- A Wednesday; Diwakar Bannerjee, director of Oye Lucky; Anurag Kashyap, Dev D’s director; Delhi 6 director Rakeysh Mehra and actors of the film Gulal. And believe me, the satisfaction and happiness that appreciating them gave me was immense and unexplainable. Not that I didn’t like their work before. But earlier I didn’t specifically contact them solely for appreciating their work. This change has untied the knots inside me and the process is likely to go on.

Off late, I talked to my old friend Piyush Mishra regarding his music skills in the film Gulal. People now acknowledge his work and he’s being praised too. I have a learned a lot from him. We have experienced ups and downs together in life. I wish him all the success and happiness ahead. I have seen various sides of him and now it’s your turn to cherish the same. However, this is just a beginning.

Love
Yours
Manoj Bajpayee

I’m not the gangster in ‘Jail’

I’m just back from Bhopal after shooting ‘Rajneeti’. This was the last stage of the schedule and the next schedule is due in the first week of September when all the other actors would be available. Bhopal was an overall good experience and going out of Mumbai felt like taking a free breathe for the first time ever.

The shooting of my second film ‘Jail’ to be directed by Madhur Bhandarkar will start from the second week of April. Contrary to the rumors I would like to state that I’m not playing the gangster in the film. As of now I’ll be unable to reveal the details of my character, also, I’m off late working on my character for ‘Jail’.

Meanwhile, my parents and niece visited my place. I and my wife Shabana are very happy to be with them and are ensuring their comfortable stay in Mumbai.

Amid all this there are elections coming up and I’ve been following them up. It feels good to know that my friend Prakash Jha is contesting from Betia, Bihar. My father is very happy for him too and thinks that he’ll definitely win. According to my father, Prakash ji has worked a lot for the people of Betia and has spent a lot of time with them too. I think he deserves a win if he has worked selflessly for the betterment of people and I hope that Prakash ji not only wins the Lok Sabha but also prove himself as far as the wishes and aspirations of people are considered.

Someone asked me once if it fine for the people from the film industry to come into politics? I said, “It’s thousand times better than to elect a criminal. A film person is in someway or the other attached with the common masses and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of the people.

I hereby request all the voters to not go for party name and their symbols as such, rather choose the deserving candidate who in reality possesses the abilities to be their representative. I personally feel that elections are not a testing time for the candidates but for the voters actually. I wish that we use this opportunity and right intelligently and choose a civilized, smart, honest and just representative for ourselves and our Nation.

With this hope...

Love
Yours
Manoj Bajpayee

The quest is on…

The first schedule of Rajneeti ended in Bhopal today. I’m planning to return to Mumbai now after having a great time there. For the first time in life, I worked with Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Dayashankar Pande and Chetan and the wholesome experience was amazing. We struggled through shots but as always, I tried to put in my best efforts and energy to the scenes.

It usually happens that by the time you reach the hotel, you are mentally exhausted. Also, you need to be fit and hence exercising becomes important. It’s physically stressing. The busy schedule doesn’t allow any relaxations, but we need to work. Doing something that I am is something I had always dreamed about. And how many people in this world are doing things they desire? I really feel blessed in this context.

I’m meeting a good friend of mine, Vijay Jajauria. Vijay stays in Bhopal and we studied together at Delhi University. I have not been able to meet him since a long time owing to the distance between Mumbai and Bhopal. Last time when we met was when I was shooting for Shool in Bhopal. Whenever I come to shoot Rajneeti, I meet him and his family and I really feel so happy for him. He’s content with his family life and business life. He has seen enough of Delhi and Mumbai, but was always connected to Bhopal. He wanted peace and serenity more than anything, which is why he chose to live in Bhopal. Vijay is where he wanted to be and I’m so proud of him.

I’m going through such a phase in my life where I feel like living outside Mumbai. I love shooting in small towns and meeting people there. Seemingly big cities don’t appeal to me anymore but living in a city like Mumbai is a prerequisite for someone in a profession like me. So no choices.

I’m in a constant quest for searching peace and I’m sure that I’ll find a way out soon.

With this…

Love
Yours
Manoj Bajpayee