Manoj Bajpayee

“If the director has clarity of thought and vision, you are bound to just go ahead and do what he wants to do. I respect that.”

“I think theatre is an actor's medium, while cinema is a director's medium.”

“My job is not to make you happy. As a filmmaker and as an actor, my job is not to make you feel happy. If you're used to those kind of films, don't come and watch my films.”

“That's realism: a fact that if the audiences don't move out and watch good films at the theatre, people will stop making them.”

“I don't approach my character in a set pattern. I want to get into the skin of the character. I don't love Manoj Bajpayee; I love all my characters. And that is why people today remember all my roles.”

“Talent alone doesn't matter in this industry, and everyone knows this. If someone says, 'Good films are done', 'Talent always survives', there are other factors, too, which are far more important.”

“I would really want all my films to make money. But this weekend calculation is the most dangerous thing because, based on the amount collected in the first weekend, they start declaring the film a hit or a flop. It can't be.”

“For me, when I choose a script, I put my heart and soul into it, and that is exactly what I look for in a film. A good film is a good film. And if it's a bad film, irrespective of whether it's made 300 crores or 200 crores or any amount of money, it doesn't matter to me.”

“Watching an Amitabh Bachchan film in my village was a cinematic treat.”

“The kind of films and roles I do were never in competition with any star kid. Their aspirations are completely different.”

“We actors should be given the highest awards for performing in the middle of people. I can prepare in the most crowded of places, and I know how to take a journey into my mind and separate myself from the crowd. I can act anywhere.”

“Nepotism has always existed in Bollywood.”

“I have made a career of flop films. And yet, 90 percent of my films are celebrated.”

“I don't like anything I see of myself on screen. I might like one scene or a few shots, but mostly I feel bad and keep kicking myself.”

“Earlier films were meant only for entertainment, but now filmmakers, who are products of these times, do not compromise on real stuff. That is why storytelling has become more convincing.”

“I've no problems with cuss words. All of us use them. Those who say they don't are lying. People can tolerate English cuss words but find the Hindi ones a bit revolting.”

“My lowest point came when I shifted to Mumbai in 1993. Nothing was happening. This is right after I did 'Bandit Queen.' I had no way to tell people that I know my job. There was no casting department here. All the commercial films that were happening in those days did not have any place for me.”

“My father is somebody I admire and would like to be. He is a mild man and a gentleman. Even though he was from a conservative background, he was so open to my doing theatre.”

“For me, if awards are not increasing my remuneration or adding value to the offers that I get, they have no meaning.”

“I am not Padma Shri Manoj Bajpayee. I am Manoj Bajpayee, an outsider who saw dreams and stayed on the fringes of Mumbai and worked day and night to get work.”