Going global

As Manoj Bajpayee wins the Asia Pacific Screen Award, the actor says international attention was needed for national recognition

ALL FOR DIVERSITY: Manoj Bajpayee

Known for playing unconventional roles, Manoj Bajpayee recently won the Best Actor’ Award at the 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh . In Capital to inaugurate Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY) Fest, he revealed that he is going through many scripts but has not found something interesting to sign.

Next year, he has many films slated to release including Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar-3 in which he is playing a supporting role and international ventures like In the Shadows and Love Sonia which will take the festival route.

Excerpts:

How important is international recognition for an actor?

National recognition to koi de nahi raha hai, kahin se toh kuch mil raha hai (laughs). It is very important because an actor is someone who express through emotions and a good response is always beneficial for future performances. This year it was the toughest jury at Asia Pacific Awards as they took four days to decide upon the award, making it much more credible than others. As I was talking to jury (which included David Puttman, Jan Chapman and Shyam Benegal), I came to know new dimensions of my own performance in Aligarh and I was amazed by their response to a story which was local in subject but universal in context. The (Asia Pacific Screen) Awards are coveted because they cover countries like Iran which produce excellent cinema and have a very credible selection process. Apart from recognised as an actor in world cinema, it is also very good for our industry as it will gain more attention and more people will try investing in stories which have something substantial to say.

There is a lack of content for children in India even though we have a big market to tap. What drove you to work in Budhia Singh , a film about a forgotten child-marathon runner?

Parents should let their children to get motivated by watching talents like Budhia on screen. I want to give a push to films, which others have no interest for, and Budhia Singh was one such film that I believed in. A film should have a shelf life and should be made considering wider audiences which includes children also.

As I have comprehended it, we as audience and as content creators are too much obsessed with entertainment and it is linked with our habit of gaining instant box office success. It is also forgotten that if one child comes to watch a film, he will be accompanied by parents and if the child has a sibling that means more ticket sales.

Did you find any difference in the level of professionalism while working in international productions like In the Shadows andLove Sonia?

I did not find any difference as in India too I work with those people who work within a given budget, do not pressurise to give over the top performances and do not go beyond the script. My international projects, In the Shadows and Love Sonia, which are in post production stage, have something I never tried before as an actor but it is same as any other project. In fact, it was the foreign crew which was surprised to know the fact that we also follow the same professional norms which are prevalent in their respective industries. One thing different was that they follow the contract very strictly and they are very serious about their paperwork. It is one thing which we have to look into.

Is there an increasing co-existence between commercial cinema and independent cinema through distribution channels?

For a healthy society, diversity in creative mediums is very important as it brings heterogeneity in ideas. In Bollywood, the co-existence started happening after Satya . It gained impetus through films like Dev.D and Black Friday but in last one year, it is witnessing a downfall.

Distributors and exhibitors have started to show disinterest in films with unusual stories as big production houses have started churning out too many films. It has made independent cinema hard to sustain.

Although they are getting released, they are being sidelined. These films pick only by word of mouth and reviews but as soon as people get aware of them, they are replaced by a mainstream film.

I am positive about future as many big names are pushing for an alternative distribution system for these films. Let's hope for the best.

How theatre and short films and digital format can help an actor to experiment?

Theatre teaches one to work in a team and norms are pretty much similar to what they are in the film industry which makes it a training ground for aspiring actors. Mediums do not matter any more now as one can easily shuttle between films and theatre which gives one a wider arena to experiment with performance.

Shorts are a wonderful way of telling stories and they have a huge reach because in this generation everyone has a smart phone and if it is pushed, it can produce good creative and commercial results.

When I worked in short films, there were two reasons – one was the boredom of doing same kind of work and the second was my own inclination to push digital medium with whatever name I have in the industry. The intention was to help the idea which needs to be promoted as I have a belief that digital medium is the next big thing which should be promoted by industry veterans at large so that good ideas could flourish.