Manoj Bajpayee on Facing Racist Remarks And Inappropriate Labels For His Work: ‘They Made me a Porn Star…’
In a recent interview, Manoj Bajpayee recalled his early days and spoke about receiving flak for his work. He also addressed racist remarks and unfair labels from critics.
Manoj Bajpayee is a tremendous actor known for his natural and effortless acting style. The Family Man star recently revealed how critics looked down on him for not fitting into traditional beauty norms, labelling their behaviours as racially biased. After facing disappointment with a film, Bajpayee was unjustly compared to an adult film actor, a comment that deeply affected him. Amid promoting his latest venture Bhaiyya Ji, he spoke about the initial years in the industry.
‘THEY WERE TOO RACIST’
In an exclusive interview with Siddharth Kannan, the Bhaiyya Ji actor opened up about facing critiscm after playing Maharaja Vijayendra Singh in Karisma Kapoor and Rekha starrer Zubeidaa. He said, “Some critics wrote, he’s good, but he doesn’t fit the role; he’s good, but he doesn’t look like a prince.’ I thought these people are so liberal and evolved that they do not realise they are such big racists. They were too racist.”
Bajpayee revealed discussing it with his peers and said, “Then I showed it to a few of my friends. I said, How should I take it?’ They said ‘Spit it off, this is biased and in its core it is a racist thing. But today, when I was doing interviews for Bhaiyya Ji, four out of five journalists were talking about my performance in Zubeida.”
‘IT REALLY OFFENDED ME’
Bajpayee added that after doing one film he was labelled as a porn star. He said, “I did a film called Fareh; it wasn’t well made, and it failed; it happens sometimes. Somebody wrote, Now Bhikhu Matre of Satya has become a p**n star. That hurt me; it really offended me.”
Bajpayee continued, “No reviewer has the right to go that dirty. You can talk about my film, how it is made. How does that make me a p**n star? There is nothing I did in that film to suggest that. Now, my filmography is there for everyone to see. You will get your answers there.”
Manoj Bajpayee is a renowned artist with three National Film Awards to his credit. He got his first film with Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and went on to movies like Shool, Rajneeti, and others, making his mark in the showbiz. He has also done some much-appreciated work in OTT. His series The Family Man earned him the Filmfare OTT Awards for Best Actor. Meanwhile, his action drama Bhaiyya Ji is all set to be released in the theatres on May 24.
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