The first film Manoj Bajpayee and Anurag Kashyap came together on was Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya. While the former played the iconic character of Bhiku Mhatre in the film, Anurag received his big Bollywood break with it as a screenwriter. But a creative difference on the sets, particularly Bhiku’s death sequence, drove a wedge between Manoj and Anurag. Following Shool and Kaun, they reunited on Gangs Of Wasseypur, but their collaboration couldn’t continue.
In Manoj’s words, Anurag was writing a film for him but that fell apart. Years later, the filmmaker turned into a presenter for Manoj’s latest release, Jugnuma. “Suddenly, I’ve found new love for Anurag Kashyap,” Manoj bursts out laughing while exclusively speaking to us about Anurag. Reacting
to their hot and cold relationship, he candidly says, “What’s there between me and him will never change. He used to be very frivolous at one point in time. Woh bachcha tha, abb jawaan ho gaya hai.”
But that may not necessarily mean that the duo will come together for a film soon. Taking a dig at his tryst with acting in films like Leo and Maharaja, Manoj remarks, “The issue is I still can’t sit and have a proper conversation with him. He keeps poking me and hence, keeps getting it back from me. I see myself directing a film and him acting in a very bad role in it (laughs). I want to cast him and make his life hell. I want to make him realise that acting, from which he’s making money these days down south, isn’t a kid’s job.”
Walking down memory lane, Manoj recalls that he had first met Anurag when he was in his early twenties and contrary to popular beliefs, it wasn’t on the sets of Satya. “I met him in Sriram Raghavan’s office in Andheri East for the first time. I remember Ramu was looking for a writer at that time and he gave me the responsibility of finding one. I gave him two writers but he wasn’t happy with them,” the Inspector Zende actor shares.
It was Manoj’s chance meeting with Anurag that eventually translated into a full-blown career for the latter. “I met Anurag by chance and started talking. We smoked one cigarette after another. I realised that this boy is quite a mind, a voracious reader and a cinephile. I asked him if he wants to meet Ramu to write a film that I was supposed to do. He got excited. I took him to Ramu and I’ve known Anurag since then. He was 22 at that time,” Manoj says.
But while he respects Anurag’s understanding and analyses of the film industry, Manoj has no qualms in admitting that he pays no attention to his inputs about his career choices. “I’ve always respected Anurag for his mind and as a talent. I take our discussions very, very seriously. I pay a lot of attention to his readings of the industries and his general observations. But I don’t take his opinions very seriously in terms of what I should do and not do,” states Manoj.
