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Manoj Bajpayee: I’m a very thick-skinned guy, you can push me but can’t break me
Actor Manoj Bajpayee, who is currently filming for Aiyaary in Delhi, is not concerned with critics’ opinions, and is happy that his film, In The Shadows, is travelling to international film festivals.
That Manoj Bajpayee is every critic’s favourite actor, is a well-known fact. He has proved his acting prowess, time and again, with films such as Aligarh (2016) and Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012), but he says that what critics say about his performances doesn’t matter to him.
“I am a very thick-skinned guy. You can push me, but can’t break me. For me, it’s not about critical acclaim or box-office collections. At the end of the day, you want to tell a story, and play it out desperately and that matters to me. Opinions [of critics] only teach me, but don’t bother me. It’s in my DNA that I take them in my stride and move on,” says Bajpayee, who is shooting for his film Aiyaary, co-starring Sidharth Malhotra and Rakul Preet Singh.
His upcoming film, In The Shadows (Gali Guliyaan in Hindi), is already making waves both in India and abroad. Selected for a premiere at the Busan Film Festival, it has also been nominated for the prestigious Golden Hugo award at the Chicago International Film Festival, an award which India has won for the first and only time for Mrinal Sen’s Khandhar (1984).
Elated that the film is being talked about for the right reasons and is getting accolades, the 48-year-old actor says, “For smaller films like this one, you need some encouragement from some quarter. If it’s coming from international quarters, then why not? Yes, we will be shameless about it. We will be very, very shameless about the fact that our film is going to so many film festivals in India and abroad, because this will promote our film.”
He adds, “One thing is for sure — all of us who are associated with this film are going to be known for this work in the future.”
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