Manoj Bajpayee reflects on playing a part in Prakash Jha’s brilliant political drama Raajeenti in this exclusive interview with Subhash K Jha.
Manoj, Raajeenti was a turning point for your career?
It was fifteen years back, you know, I was also not getting the kind of script I wanted to do. It was very hard for six, seven years for me to find the right roles. Prakashji had promised me a role in the modern adaptation of Mahabharata that he had in his mind. And he happened to be offering me a role in this. I still remember him telling me that you can go ahead and choose any one of these two parts. And I chose Veerendra Pratap Singh which was based on Duryodhana.
Which was the other role Prakash offered you?
It is never correct to talk about the roles one hasn’t done. I had such a great time playing my character . Somewhere I realized that I wanted to keep the larger than life aspect to Duryodhana, because it was coming from mythology. So I wanted to keep that aspect of the mythology. And also wanted to make it a little more real. So I was trying to strike a balance between both real and somebody who is much more bigger in his persona than anyone else.
That must have been tough?
Yeah, it was a hard job to strike that. Some of my co-actors really thought that I’m pitching it a little too high. But they were not getting my mindset. They were not part of that preparation. But I’m so happy that eventually it all worked.
Prakash Jha knew what you were doing?
There was only one person who was completely with me all the way and that was Prakashji. He could really see what I was trying to do with my performance. He could really see it very, very clearly, what I was trying to do with the character of Veerendra Pratap Singh. And he was very appreciative of the fact.
How did you get along with the rest of the vast cast?
Somehow, one of my best co-actors who happened to be Ajay Devgan, was always there very silently, prodding me, appreciating each and every shot that I was giving. He was there to support. But he’s a quiet person. He’s a very silent person. This is a quality I liked about him. And then eventually you realize that, you know, this is the way a co-actor should be, prodding, appreciating, very silently encouraging at the same time helping you to experiment and explore.
Raajneeti remains a memorable experience?
The entire experience of shooting for the film was one of the best I’ve had. And also Prakashji being the master of coordination of all the junior artists who he had from the local theatres and all the villages from nearby in Madhya Pradesh. The way he handled the actors, the main actors and the secondary actors, the significant actors and also the juniors was really, really something mind-boggling, I would say.
Prakash is a master of mob direction?
If anybody really wants to know how to direct a crowd of actors, they should really take a masterclass from Mr. Prakash Jha. Raajeenti will always be a very, very important milestone in my career. And I will always be very, very thankful to Mr. Prakash for this.
