Manoj Bajpayee Birthday Special: 10 Underrated Performances of the National Award-Winning Actor That You Should Not Miss

There are stars and there are actors. And then there are actor who can easily eclipse the stars. Manoj Bajpayee is one such actor, a performer with immense range and variance whose scene-stealing capabilities have been praised by one and many. It is even surprising to read that such a wonderful actor had been a National School of Drama rejection, instead being an alumnus of Barry John troupe (along with a little-known actor, you may know as Shah Rukh Khan). Mrs Serial Killer: Meet Jacqueline Fernandez, Manoj Bajpayee and Mohit Raina's Characters From the Upcoming Netflix Thriller.

Bajpayee had made his acting debut with the 1994 film Drohkaal. After supporting roles in films like Dastak and Daud, Manoj Bajpayee earned his breakout success with Ram Gopal Varma's Satya. His role of the gangster Bhiku Mhatre is considered as one of the most iconic portrayals of all time. He won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. He later went on to impress in commercial films like Kaun, Aks, Raajneeti, Gangs of Wasseypur etc, as well as offbeat films as Sonchiriya and Aligarh (for which he won his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor).

On April 23, 2020, this fine actor is turning 51. Let's celebrate this occasion by appreciating some of the more underrated performances of the actor that deserves more praise that it actually got.

Shool

Manoj Bajpayee's first film as the solo male lead is a gritty cop drama, about a honest cop who wages a one-man-war against a corrupt politician. Bajpayee breathes fire into the role of the well-intentioned officer, who loses a lot more than he can bargain while cleansing the system that he is a part of.

Road

An engaging thriller that is directed by Rajat Mukherjee and produced by Ram Gopal Varma, Road stars Vivek Oberoi and Antara Mali in the lead as a couple who elopes and go on a road trip. But it is Manoj Bajpai who steals the show as the villain of that trip, playing a creepy hitchhiker who turns out to be psychopathic serial killer.

Pinjar

Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's period drama is based on the novel by Amrita Pritam. Manoj Bajpayee plays a Muslim who kidnaps a Hindu girl, played by Urmila Matondkar, over a family enmity but falls for her, and even marries her when her family refuses to accept her back. For his performance in the film, Manoj Bajpayee won National Film (Special Jury) Award.

LOC Kargil

In JP Dutta's ambitious but exhausting recap of the 1999 Kargil War, Manoj Bajpayee plays a real-life soldier Yogendra Singh Yadav, who survives the war despite being riddled with multiple bullet injuries. Even though the film had a huge cast (with more focus on Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan and Abhishek Bachchan's characters) Manoj Bajpayee stood out with a sincere performance and his camaraderie with Ashutosh Rana's martyred Yogendra Singh Yadav was one of biggest positives of the film.

1971

I have already mentioned in a couple of features of mine the cruel oversight the audiences then did to this fine gem. A jail-break film directed by Ramanand Sagar's grandson, Amrit, 1971 is inspired by real-life incidents and is about a group of Indian POW's who try to escape from a Pakistani prison. While Manoj Bajpayee is in excellent form as the leader of the unit, he is ably supported by Ravi Kishan, Kumud Mishra, Manav Kaul and Deepak Dobriyal.

Jail

Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail is a less-appreciated work of the director. Set mostly in within a prison, the movie has Neil Nitin Mukesh as the lead, of a young man serving as an undertrial for a crime he didn't do. Manoj Bajpayee plays another prisoner in the same jail, who is put in employ by the police. It is a role that Bajpayee effectively underplays himself, making it one of the bright spots in a film that isn't much talked about.

Chittagong

Playing the role of a school-teacher turned revolutionary Surya Sen, Bajpayee is fantastic in this moving drama, directed by  Bedabrata Pain, based on the Chittagong uprising. Giving Bajpayee some elite company are future acting stalwarts like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkummar Rao, and Jaideep Ahlawat.

Chakravyuh

Prakash Jha who is known for his multi-starrer social dramas, made this film on the Naxal factions in the exteriors. While the focus is on the Namak Haram-kind of tension between Arjun Rampal and Abhay Deol's characters, Manoj Bajpayee makes his mark as the Naxal leader, who is a pain for the police force, but turns out to be someone who has suffered injustice from the law-makers.

Gali Guleiyan

This offbeat psychological drama is not everyone's cup of tea, but it needs to be watched for Manoj Bajpayee's fantastic performance. Gali Guleiyan has him as a man with a broken past who is being suffocated within the claustrophobic confines of his environs and wants to save the life of a little kid who he things is suffering from abuse.

Love Sonia

Love Sonia is a film that is difficult to watch, for it is an unflinching portrayal on the brutalities that happen in flesh trade in the city. making the film even darker is Manoj Bajpayee's terrifying performance as the pimp who has no qualms in tormenting the girls and renting them out just for a smoke.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2020 12:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).