I own my films. My conviction is not based! on how they did at the box office, says Mano

MY BELIEF AND THE CONVICTION IN A FILM IS NOT BASED ON HOW IT DID AT THE BOX OFFICE, BUT IS BASED UPON THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE SCRIPT, AND THE CRAFT THAT ONE HAS ACHIEVED WHILE DOING THE FILM

- Anshul Chaturvedi

In an industry where actors are quick to distance themselves from projects that fail at the box office, here is an actor, at the peak of his popularity, batting for a 15-year-old release which, as he vividly remembers, did not even have posters in many of the halls it released in, and yet won two National Awards. Manoj Bajpayee explains why 1971, a 2007 release, being watched by millions online in 2022 feels like poetic justice and how he cannot disown projects once he takes them on.

The year is 2012. Manoj Bajpayee is talking about the just-released Gangs Of Wasseypur. Never one to be seen at movie promotions, isn’t the current campaign – unfamiliar territory – tiring for him? Manoj replies, “Things have changed a lot; the fact that everything is temporary was perhaps never as true as it is now. Meri kuch filmon ka jo hashr hua woh mujhe yaad hai, when I faced situations where the producer could not ensure much visibility for my movies, sometimes from lack of funds, or from other reasons.”