Manoj Bajpayee made his Bollywood debut with Shekhar Kapur's 1994 film 'Bandit Queen'. He played dacoit Man Singh in the biopic.
Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most versatile actors we have in Bollywood. He made his Bollywood debut with Shekhar Kapur's 1994 film 'Bandit Queen'. The film was based on the life of dacoit Phoolan Devi, who later served as a member of parliament until her assassination in 2001. In an interview, Manoj opened up about the fee he got for his role in 'Bandit Queen'. The actor also revealed what he did with the amount.
Manoj Bajpayee told Curly Tales, "My first pay cheque was from 'Bandit Queen' for Rs 10,000. The first thing I did was to visit the chaiwala (tea vendor) and bread pakode vala (bread pakoda vendor), who used to be there on the film's set, because we used to eat there and we always owed him money."
The National award-winning actor jokingly said that after paying his dues he broke all ties with the tea vendor. "As soon as I got the money, I gave it to him and told him, 'Ram ram, ab se tera mera rishta khatam (From now onwards, we are not connected)','' said Manoj.
'Bandit Queen' featured actor Seema Biswas in the role of Phoolan Devi. It was a cult movie that also starred actors like Gajraj Rao, Aditya Srivastava and Saurabh Shukla among others.
Earlier, in an Instagram post, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, wrote that Manoj Bajpayee got drunk on the sets of the film with real dacoit Man Singh. Interestingly, Manoj played Man Singh in the film.
Kapur wrote, “One night the real Maan Sing slipped into our sets at night and and wanted to meet the man playing him. Apparently, the real Maan Singh and Manoj got drunk together and what actually passed between them...only Manoj can tell you... But what an adventure, what an experience for an actor, playing a real live, Dacoit being hunted by the police...being confronted by the Dacoit himself !! The adventures of film making..when making movies was a true life adventure...I miss those days..I miss the excitement of uncertainty (sic)”.
On the work front, Manoj Bajpayee's recent release was 'Silence 2'. It is currently streaming on Zee5. He will also be seen in 'The Family Man 3'.