Exclusive - Manoj Bajpayee on doing intimate scenes for the first time on screen, "In my entire career, I have never been so uncomfortable"

Manoj Bajapyee is seen in Despatch

Bollywood's very versatile and talented actor Manoj Bajpayee was recently seen playing the role of a journalist in Zee 5's Despatch, which released on December 13.

In an exclusive conversation with Money Control, Manoj Bajpayee spoke about his role as Joy Bag in the movie and also his much-discussed bold and intimate scenes with three leading ladies—Shahana Goswami, Parvati Sehgal, and Rituparna Sen.

It is for the first time that the 4-time National Award-winning actor has performed such intimate scenes on screen, and he told us that 'In my entire career, I have never been so uncomfortable.' But he also added that director Kanu Behl and the three leading ladies made him comfortable.

We asked him, what convinced Manoj Bajpayee to do really bold scenes in this movie?

"It was Kanu Behl. In my entire career, I have never been so uncomfortable. He was trying to convince me. He wanted to explore the relationship, the intensity of the relationship, and the dark side of the relationship, behind the doors. These are not only intimate or sex scenes; there is a lot of exchange of emotion happening. And this is where you find out what exactly they are going through in this relationship. So he convinced me, and after that I had to really make myself be comfortable with all of those things," said Manoj Bajpayee.

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He further added that the three actresses—Shahana, Archita, and Rituparna—actually 'took care of him and his shyness' while performing the intimate moments in the film.

"To my surprise, the women were just fine, fantastic. I mean, they didn't have any discomfort. They were just looking at the character and the scene, and they were more worried about it. I would say Shahana (Goswami) really took care of me, and my shyness and, you know, my discomfort when we were doing that scene with her. Then Archita, she's a new girl. She's a very strong character girl, but in her scenes she came across as if she was my senior. I was a junior. I mean, she is so, and likewise, you know, Risen, she comes from the Bengali film industry, and she's quite a fierce lady. So all of these women, they took great care of me when it came to your scene," he added.

When asked if he was worried about how people or his fans would say after seeing him in these bold scenes, Manoj said, 'Logon ki utni chinta nahi hoti hai.' It was his own shyness that stopped him from taking on such roles in the past as well.

"I am shy by nature, since my childhood. So that is there in me. And it's very difficult to take it out because that's the best part of my personality. Logon ki utni chinta nahi hoti hai mujhe. The reserved, shy, and private quality that I have in me, my behavior that actually has been stopping me. I had to overcome that and get my actor in the front. And because of all those days of workshop, and then Kanu Belh's immaculate direction and all my co-actors immense support. I could really pull it up," he added.

Over the course of his three-decade career, Manoj Bajpayee has played a wide variety of roles and says Joy Bag is also very intruging. The actor claims that he dislikes doing linear roles.

Talking about the movie and its storyline, Manoj was all praise for director Kannu Behl and said it was not your regular fast-paced thriller.

"Well, there is a thriller here, but it's not the usual, fast-paced thriller we are talking about." It's a thriller that is directed by a very unique storyteller, Kanu Behl. For this character, on one side, he's also kind of doing a lot of character study and also getting into the personal details of Joy Bag. So, there is a thriller, but there is also a lot of, you know, analyzing, re-analyzing, and observing his own personal space behind the closed door. That makes it quite interesting. The pace is not the usual one that you expect from a thriller. But sure. Definitely, it's, this is what actually makes it quite a unique piece of work," he said.

Among his many roles, we have seen Manoj Bajpayee as Sardar in Gangs of Wasseypur and the fearless Srikant Tiwary in Family Man S 1 and 2. According to the actor, he enjoys portraying complex characters.

"Mostly I have been only touching roles that have been complicated, are very layered, and complex. And this has been an endeavor that I fell in love with. Till now, I don't like to play those very singular characters. All linear characters get very boring after a point. If it is really, after 30 years, if you want to find your work very exciting and enticing, then you have to go for those roles and those films, which are offering far more complicated and complex characters, and the challenges should be humongous, for you to wake up every morning and report for the film," he said.

The actor is now prepping up for Family Man Season 3. He was last seen in an actioner Bhaiyaa Ji, which released in theatres. It was his 100th film.