In the last few months, Manoj Bajpayee has had diverse film releases in Bhonsle and Mrs Serial Killer and made his debut as singer with the relevant and hard-hitting Bambai main ka ba. Now the 51-year-old multi-hyphenate talent slips into the skin of a fun ‘wedding detective’ in Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari, that co-stars Diljit Dosanjh and Fatima Sana Shaikh and releases on November 13.

One has rarely seen you do comedy, if at all. Is that what clinched the deal in the case of Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari?

The character is great, the story is something that I wanted to be a part of and then, of course, is the director Abhishek Sharma, who doesn’t compromise on his vision at all. The setting is the kind that I always have or at least look for in all the work that I do. It’s just that this character is wacky and has given me a lot of scope to experiment with.

This is, as you said, a relatively new area for me. Main hamesha khojte rehta hoon ki main kuch naya karoon. Maine mazze lekar kiya kyunki iss script ka nature aisa hain... it’s very light-hearted and is a family-oriented film. The audience will get to see characters and situations which are quirky and funny.

Most actors claim that comedy is the toughest to pull off...

Acting in itself is very hard... that is, if you take acting seriously (laughs). To learn the craft and to keep honing it is a very, very difficult job, and that holds true for every genre you work in. So very humbly I would disagree with the claim that comedy is the hardest.

If acting is so tough, what’s the key to making it seem as effortless as you do on screen?

Practice. You have to keep practising and learning the craft... it’s an ongoing process. You can never afford to sit easy and say, ‘I know everything about acting’. Acting is a job that always throws up something new, and more importantly, makes you realise that there is ample scope to improve. So, practise, practise, practise. That’s what I tell my students whenever I conduct acting workshops. As long as you are young and you have the energy, please keep practising your craft.

Coming back to Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari, you play a detective who gets to slip into various looks, from wearing a sari to sporting a pot belly. How much does the physicality of a character drive you in picking a role, especially something that one hasn’t seen you doing before?

It depends. The physical changes in a character have to be convincing enough. Like in this film, I take on all these looks because I want to hide my identity, and so I should be convincing enough to fool the other guy. To make it convincing, physicality also has to be internally imbibed. The costumes or make-up will never look convincing if your internal preparation is not up to the mark.

And was dancing fun?

Learning all the steps, being in rhythm, matching the tempo... it’s quite a tough job! (Laughs) But I am an actor... you throw me in any situation and it’s my job to do it to the best of my ability.

Is there anything that you would never want to do on screen?

If a script is convincing enough, I am ready to go ahead and do anything! I don’t let my personal morality come into the people that I play. But yes, I am very shy about showing my body (laughs). But the script of Gangs of Wasseypur required me to show my bare chest, and I did it. Today when I look at that scene, I feel very, very embarrassed (laughs). However, when I did it, it was the actor in me that was in the forefront and the person in me was behind in the shadows.

Do you revisit your work and are you critical of yourself?

I don’t revisit my work because I am absolutely brutal on myself! (Laughs) Watching my own work becomes very stressful for me.

Starting off with theatre and TV, you graduated to films seamlessly and were one of the earliest to embrace the digital medium, with The Family Man being stellar. What do you make of the web as a medium and how do you look at streaming platforms as an alternative to movie theatres when it comes to releasing films?

I am someone who has always been in favour of having multiple avenues of entertainment and creative expression. Why should we be against any kind of medium? I want movie theatres to make a solid comeback as much as I want OTT platforms to flourish, and yet not have the same character of a theatre. Both mediums should have their own uniqueness. OTT suits me and suits my type of creative people, the ones who like to have a no-holds-barred kind of creative liberty, so that we can keep experimenting.
Look at the content that we in India are making today. So many fabulous actors have emerged. Cinema, honestly, hasn’t been able to give to the audience what OTT is now coming up with. It’s an amazing scenario. Look at the kind of shows... The Family Man, Sacred Games, Made in Heaven, Paatal Lok and now Scam (1992) and so many others. I am so ecstatic that this is happening in my lifetime.
Again, cinema has its own beauty. One can’t compare the high of community viewing in a theatre to anything else. Like one can’t compare the reach and scope of the streaming platforms to cinema theatres. We need to explore and enhance the strengths of each rather than comparing the two. They should be complementary rather than competitive.

Year 2020 has been a mixed bag for all of us. How has it been for you?

We wrapped up the shoot of Season 2 of The Family Man just before the lockdown. I am relieved we managed to do that. Apart from that, I have never been an outgoing person. The lockdown has reconfirmed the fact that family means everything. It’s also made us realise that life can be lived with limited means and without greed. The lesson that everyone should learn from these times of the pandemic is that we should respect every life form that exists on this planet, and we need to stop wanting more and more. Greed needs to be reined in, otherwise we will perish as a race in no time.