"it is a cut-throat business, it’s very competitive.”
Manoj Bajpayee has spoken about Bollywood amid the ongoing discussions about nepotism and politics within the industry.
Following the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput, there have been debates about how Bollywood is a toxic place.
Manoj admitted that there are politics within Bollywood, calling it “cut-throat”.
He explained: “It’s an industry where different people come and work and make things move in their own ways.
“In this, there are some very nice people, there are some bad people and there are some very bad people.
“There are various kinds of politics, it is a cut-throat business, it’s very competitive.”
Manoj also opened up on the insider vs outsider debate. Questions have been raised whether ‘outsiders’ with no Bollywood connections can ever truly thrive.
Manoj considers himself to be an ‘outsider’. He is the son of a farmer who grew up in Bihar. He revealed that being an ‘outsider’ actually worked in his favour.
He said: “I found it better to be on the fringes because I realised I don’t belong there (the Bollywood insider circle) nor is it my journey. My journey was about different kind of work, different kind of films.
“And I knew the so-called working elite fraternity wouldn’t be able to give me that kind of work. The kind of work I wanted to do, it was possible by staying in the fringes.
“And the good thing about being in the fringes is, there are no expectations from you to be like them or to behave like them.”
He went on to say that being an ‘outsider’ gave him a sense of freedom.
“So I enjoyed that freedom of doing things my own way and finding my path. It’s miraculous that I am still here in an industry that is so damn box office-oriented.”
Manoj admitted that his time in Bollywood has been full of highs and lows but it takes commitment towards the profession to be able to stick around.
“So maybe by treading through various paths I have somehow reached till here.”
“And I always say my journey has not been a smooth ride, it was a rollercoaster, it took me up one day and it just kind of slammed me the other day on the ground.
“But one thing, when it slammed me on the ground I was not crying with the pain and I was not feeling bad about myself, rather I tried to get up the next day and again tried to run.”
Manoj Bajpayee revealed that when he was not wanted in lead roles, staying motivated was difficult.
“It was difficult because the industry was not ready to accept me as their lead or the leads which were being offered to me, I was not ready to be a part of that.
“It bothers you till a point but again the next role that you do, suddenly you forget everything and you take a plunge into it and you keep moving on, keep following where your destiny is taking you.”
Manoj Bajpayee will be next seen in the second series of The Family Man. The Amazon Prime Video series returns in December 2020.
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