Manoj Bajpayee: Social media has come as a blessing for independent filmmakers

Actor Manoj Bajpayee has always been seen in a variety of roles, right from playing a homosexual professor in Aligarh (2016), to a CBI officer in Special 26 (2013) , to a goon in Tevar (2015).

He made his debut with a brief appearance in Drohkaal (1994) as an undercover cop. Asked if there was any specific genre that he had in mind to make a mark for himself, he says, “I was and am open to [doing] any kind of films. Just look at the slate of films lined up for this year. It started with Aiyaary (an espionage thriller), then came Baaghi 2 (an action film, in which he played a DIG), Missing (a father). All of these are starkly different from each other. I am shooting next for a mainstream film with John Abraham. I am completely unaffected by the genre, I only care about the role and the person who is going to direct the film.”

One of his films, Gali Guliyan, which is a psychological thriller, has also been making the rounds of many film festivals. Manoj, proud of this venture, says, “It is making a lot of noise in international film festivals, and its release in India will hence take a couple of months. All such films take a full run in festivals, and then the makers try to release it in domestic markets. The same thing happened with Rajkummar Rao’s Newton (2017) too.”

He is especially thankful to the presence of social media in helping to create a buzz around such small films. “Social media has come as a blessing to films of independent nature, and for people who don’t have money for publicity. They use social media to create awareness around the film,” says Manoj.

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