Manoj Bajpayee
The second child of a small farmer with six children, I come from a village in Bihar on the border of Nepal called Belwa. I was there till the age of 17 and studied in a Hindi-speaking boarding school run by Catholics in a nearby district town.
Before moving to Delhi at the age of 17, I had only travelled to Patna or Varanasi outside Belwa.
For me, if awards are not increasing my remuneration or adding value to the offers that I get, they have no meaning.
My offbeat choices definitely don't get me too much money because they are made in a very restrained budget. We do it because we love cinema, because we are passionate about the content and new ways of storytelling.
Multiplexes are being very unkind to small films. They are giving a lot more space and value to the big budget films rather than distributing show timings fairly. But that fight will go on.
The kind of films and roles I do were never in competition with any star kid. Their aspirations are completely different.
What I am used to is 'Gali Guleiyan,' and people talking about my performances, what new I have tried in terms of my craft or the skill of storytelling.
Films like 'Satyamev Jayate' help in getting some distributors and financiers for films like 'Gali Guleiyan' which give me a lot of satisfaction.
If the director has clarity of thought and vision, you are bound to just go ahead and do what he wants to do. I respect that.
There never were any roles for my kind of acting. That's the story of my life.
Deconstructing your performance is the curse an actor has to live with. That's why I don't watch my films.
I don't like anything I see of myself on screen. I might like one scene or a few shots, but mostly I feel bad and keep kicking myself.
People should start appreciating films where women are at the centre.
I would really want all my films to make money. But this weekend calculation is the most dangerous thing because, based on the amount collected in the first weekend, they start declaring the film a hit or a flop. It can't be.
When a common man is discouraged to buy a movie ticket, it becomes a concern for the entire film industry. I think entertainment tax is too steep.
My career has been a roller coaster ride. And every actor experiences that phase.
I don't approach my character in a set pattern. I want to get into the skin of the character. I don't love Manoj Bajpayee; I love all my characters. And that is why people today remember all my roles.
Even the finest actors will have great difficulty showing somebody's loneliness. To put an actor on a chair and ask him to do nothing and yet tell the viewer everything about the character, it's a difficult task.
I've accepted loads of criticism and sacrificed so much money to do what I wanted to do - which, in a very small way, contributed to making things easy for my kind of actors.
I am not Padma Shri Manoj Bajpayee. I am Manoj Bajpayee, an outsider who saw dreams and stayed on the fringes of Mumbai and worked day and night to get work.
It is important to move on from the laurels of the past. I can't let success go to my head.
I feel proud when my old films are still talked about and 'Zubeidaa' is one of them. It has been directed by one of the great filmmakers of the country, Shyam Benegal.
I am a known actor who wants to challenge himself in difficult roles. I am not a star but an actor, so I am always looking for strong scripts and strong roles.
I am known by my performance, so neither do big films need me nor do I big films.
Even as a child, I was witness to protests against a film or a play or a book. All through my growing years, I found various people or organisations protesting against something.
I knew I am not star material. I cannot sing or dance, nor am I good for action. I can only perform for which strong, diverse roles are needed.
I work at my own pace, and I work really well when I am not running around.
I have made a career of flop films. And yet, 90 percent of my films are celebrated.
When you have a child, you have to have a hawk eye. You have to be with the child all the time.