Subhash K Jha

"For almost a year I withdrew into myself," Manoj told me the night after winning his second trophy of the season, and his second within a week, for his performance as the diabolical Raghu in Aks.

"I was called all sorts of names. I was accused of everything from drinking and brawling to abrasive behaviour with directors. I didn't retaliate. Like the people in California who rush into basements during those terrible twisters, I buried my head in the bunkers. Now when the sun is shining I've just about surfaced. And you know what? The view is not bad at all."

Director Mahesh Manjrekar is said to have had a dose of Manoj's temper when he dropped Manoj in favour of Sanjay Dutt in Ek Anokhi Prem Kahani. Manoj shakes his head in disbelief: "The best people to answer this question would be directors like Ramgopal Varma, E Niwas, Hansal Mehta, Akash Deep, Shyam Benegal and Rakesh Mehra, with whom I've worked after Satya.

"Let me clarify. Yes, I was offered a role by him in a film with Kareena Kapoor. I was never told I was dropped. I had started preparing for my part of a blind man without knowing I was no more part of the film. My secretary told me about it. Mahesh met me after almost eight months. He told me he had certain emotional reasons for doing what he did.

"I completely understood his position, even though I loved that role. Now when composer Vishal had trouble casting for his first directorial project Barf, I quickly opted out for the sake of his project. Vishal also wanted me to do a cameo as a butcher in his new children's film. I begged off because my dates are taken up by Dr Chandra Prakash Dwivedi's for his period film Pinjar."

Manoj is now excited about working in the screen adaptation of Amrita Pritam's novel Pinjar, about a rioter during the Partition who falls in love and eventually marries the girl he rapes. "I have a slightly negative role in Rajat Mukherjee's Road, and now in Pinjar.

"But in Pinjar I go through this amazing process of reformation. It is a character with so many shades and variations. In a way, Aks, Road and Pinjar are my negative trilogy," Manoj grins wickedly. "It doesn't mean I won't do more negative roles. Let another good one come along and I am in."

Recently, Subhash Ghai is said to have wanted Manoj to work for chickenfeed in his production, Rahul. Says Manoj, "I wouldn't like to comment on that. But I would like to say one thing: I have never said I want to do only leading roles. I have made it clear that I won't do the conventional wicked villain role. I object to being slotted as a conventional villain on the basis of my looks. That's a really discriminatory attitude.

"How could anyone decide I'm suited to play a villain just because I don't have conventional, loverboy looks? That's exactly what happened in my pre-Satya days. I have had an aversion to unidimensional negative roles ever since. I'm proud to play a multi-dimensional antagonist in Aks."

"You have to understand that very few roles that are offered to me actually gel with me. I can't lie to myself or to the filmmaker by pocketing the signing amount and pretend the role is fantastic and then give the filmmaker a hard time."

Back to Pinjar, I jokingly say he and Urmila Matondkar are the Dharmendra and Hema Malini of the new millennium. "Arrey kahan, bhai? If I'm doing a third film with Urmila now, I have also done two films each with Tabu and Raveena Tandon. But let me tell you both Urmila and I have roles to die for in Pinjar. Though it's another Partition film, its sensibilities will be quite different from Gadar or any other film."

Tum Bin star Priyanshu Chatterjee has been signed to play the second lead in Pinjar. Manoj says, "I'll tell you something. For some strange reason, I find it hard to get myself good costars in two-hero films. Perhaps you are right when you say I have become like Mehmood in the 1960s when lots of big stars refused to be seen with him. Recently, I met Ashutosh Rana during J P Dutta's LoC. I told him never to believe the remarks about him that are attributed to me. The ice was broken. We hit it off immediately."

LoC is another film that Manoj is really looking forward to. "So far I don't know much about my role except that I play a a soldier from Meerut. But I do know J P Saab is one director I trust blindly. When he called me to do LoC he told me to trust him. This once, I see no reason not to."

But it is Rajat Mukherjee's Road that is a major event in Manoj's career: "Road is very special. And I am thankful to [producer] Ramu for giving me such a great role. Actually, there never was any showdown between us. He got busy with his work and me with mine. Even then whenever Ramu and me talk, maybe once a week, we always interact as friends. We share the same relationship since Satya.

"But he's a busy man. He doesn't want any intrusions while he's working. I respect his need for privacy. I don't know how and when our differences got blown so much out of proportion. I cannot forget what he has done for me. The fact that you are talking to me today is because of that man's faith in me."

So how is Ramu's old blue-eyed boy's rapport with the director's new blue-eyed boy Vivek Oberoi? Grins Manoj, "You know, I get very jealous and possessive when I see Vivek and Ramu together. Jokes aside, Vivek is a very focused guy. He isn't an actor to be taken for granted. He won't surrender to a director's vision unquestioningly. He asks many questions on the sets. In that sense, he is a lot like me."

The buzz about Manoj's performance in Road is very positive. Says costar Vivek Oberoi, "Manoj's performance is so brilliant. I wish I had done that role."

"Things are looking up for me," Manoj smiles, happily. "I have signed a couple of really good films. Last year, I did Aks, which I am really proud of. There were some dark patches in 2001 like when it was reported that I had got into a public altercation at a restaurant when I was with Neha. This wasn't true.

"Let me tell you what happened. Some people were making obscene gestures at a table behind us. I requested the staff to tell them to stop. Then I told them to stop. That incident was reported as though Manoj Bajpai had got into a public fight. Had those people continued to misbehave, I would have definitely taken action. I can't allow anyone to misbehave with a lady."

Manoj stresses on the need to take some R&R from acting: "I give so much of myself physically and emotionally to every role I do. I need to take time off after every project. Acting is a very stressful job for me. But I'm far more relaxed these days. I have finished one phase of my career. Now I have adopted a more relaxed attitude where I just do my work and go home."

"I have a confession to make: I am a recluse; I am a very private person. The minute I finish shooting, I head home. I don't like attending parties. Mot many of my friends are from the film industry. My friends go back a long long way. I am much more relaxed when I'm in Delhi with my family. They never discuss cinema with me. Whenever I need to re-establish a link with reality, I visit my parents."

Lately, things haven't been going well for his folks back home in Bihar. The Bajpai residence in Bettiah has been a target for criminal attack on more than one occasion. Besides Manoj's father hasn't been keeping good health. "I am now thinking of shifting them permanently to Delhi or Mumbai," he says.