Indian actor Manoj Bajpayee on a role that connects with him spiritually: The Fable’s lead actor reveals his transformative journey into the role of Dev while reflecting on his evolving craft and profound connection with director Raam Reddy.
Indian actor Manoj Bajpayee feels honored to be at the 74th Berlinale and proud that the film (The Fable, directed by Raam Reddy whom we had the honor of interviewing as well) he acted in is the only Indian film competing in the festival, more precisely within the Encounters strand.
A brief tête-à-tête with the actor tells us a lot about how he prepared for his role as Dev, the main protagonist in the film, and his journey as an actor who is visiting Berlin and Berlinale for the first time.
An actor with a series of successes for bringing different characters to life on the reel, Manoj walks us through his process of becoming the character that has moved the audience at Berlinale. “Thank God that the journey for this film is starting from Berlinale… it is about experiencing the international audience; many started crying, as if the void Dev was feeling inside, they related to it. Many in the audience felt what Dev felt; the film is touching them spiritually.”
“I have wanted to work with Raam Reddy (director of The Fable) since his first film Tithi, a lovely, sweet film, but when this script came to me, it was something that I was already searching for; that’s the kind of mental state I was in and ready to try something new.”
Manoj’s initial reaction was quite simple, saying, “Let’s go ahead with the script”; this was six years back. “Raam takes time in preparing for the film, he believes in really spending time with his actors; we would sit together at his place, read, and reread the script. I was up for it, reading, taking mental and physical notes, and that’s the process that I love to do. But I knew one thing: that this was not going to be easy, portraying this role; I had to really understand the character and get into it, not with intensity but with a feather-light mind,” said Manoj.
To put it in context, according to Manoj, Dev was already there, while he was trying to be there mentally and spiritually. “To understand Dev, one needed to be on a spiritual journey that I was already on, some kind of spiritual understanding which I find as a blessing to bring out in this character.”
“When the film begins, my character is already in a place, in his mind, he is flying… he is everywhere, he goes where he wants to go, though he is with his family, he is wandering,” said Manoj explaining the beginning of the film, where in the first scene of the film, there is an idea of how rigorously Raam has worked on developing the character and the story. “We achieved that scene by me going again and again until it was free-flowing, natural.”
Manoj talks about connecting with the film, its character, and his way of life. “My spiritual practices were getting intense every day, hence this is a film where Raam and I completely connected, we found similarity in each other in terms of seeking. Besides, the film was shot during the pandemic, and though it was not a good thing, it allowed us to be in a bubble, shooting, focusing completely, and there was no intervention from the outside. What it has done is given us a lot of space to be focused and to be together.”
As an actor, Manoj feels that acting is always evolving. “I am somebody who is always evolving, as a person and as an actor. I try to avoid watching myself on the screen; it’s the process that I am much more interested in than the final film. When you watch yourself, the film is already old in your mind, you feel that you have traveled farther, you have corrected too many things inside yourself already. So, if the film is two years back, you will find that you can find things that could improve or do it better. Keep evolving, keep working on the craft all the time,” he adds.
He feels that nothing has changed for the actor whether he is shooting for OTT or the big screen, but for him, it is always facing the camera. Although Manoj feels that watching a film in the theatre always has an appeal for it is larger than life. OTT is far more intimate, so the producer and director decide upon the content and where it should be.
Manoj often feels that scripts play an important role. “You don’t create a method while choosing a script, it is very organic. I personally feel that a script for me should be engaging and a story that has never been told appeals to me. When I am reading a script, I am like a viewer or a reader, and if I am engaged with the script which is unique, or the character which gives me space to work on it and turn it into something that people have not seen me in, this is what The Fable did for me, I felt that somehow if I can achieve this, that would be quite a success as an actor. In fact, we were always talking, like we were on the same page, most of the questions were answered in the script and that helped.”
