BREAKING: Manoj Bajpayee says South directors FOOLED him into playing the villain in their films

Actor Manoj Bajpayee is enjoying a wave of praise for The Family Man 3, but what makes his journey even more interesting is how easily people forget that he has now completed almost three decades in the industry. He has been part of some of the most loved and critically admired films across the years, and his body of work still surprises many.

So it felt fitting to play a fun little game with him about his own career. In one of the questions, we threw an interesting trivia challenge at him and asked him to name five South Indian films he has worked in.

In retrospect, it seems they were just flattering and fooling us.

- Manoj Bajpayee (on South directors casting Hindi actors in their films)

Q. You have worked in a select few South films. Can you name five of them?

Manoj: Yes, this I remember well. That would be Vedam, Puli, the RGV film Prem Katha, Happy and Anjaan. There was another film in Tamil too, but I can’t recollect that completely.

What came after that was even more entertaining. Manoj, clearly in a playful mood, went on to add, “During that time, the directors down South would keep calling me and would keep telling me they are huge fans of us and that their film cannot be made without me. Now in retrospect, it seems they were just flattering and fooling us.” He laughed while saying it and then added, “From here in the Hindi industry, actors usually go there only to play villains, or female actors go down to be the leading ladies.”

His comment, though lighthearted, reflects a larger truth about cross-industry casting. Actors from the Hindi belt often find themselves typecast as villains in South films, while female actors are cast as leading ladies, sometimes in significant parts and sometimes in roles that don’t match their talent. Manoj’s playful take on it only highlights how fascinating and layered these industry dynamics can be.

It is also interesting that post Samar, his Tamil film, Anjaan back in 2014, he hasn't been in a film down South ever since.