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Today, Zubeidaa completed 18 years of its release and we got in touch with Manoj Bajpayee to know some anecdotes about working with Karisma Kapoor, Rekha and Benegal Shyam.
Zubeidaa is one of the masterpieces of our Indian film industry. Starring Karisma Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee andRekha, the film is the story of a young man Riyaz (Rajit Kapoor) who yearns to learn more about his mother Zubeidaa (Karisma Kapoor). As the story unfolds, you get to meet the characters of Manoj Bajpayee and Rekha. Director Benegal Shyam narrated the story of Zubeidaa masterfully and evoked the emotion of sadness in his audience. The movie buffs could relate to the story of Zubeidaa. The film even won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.
Manoj Bajpayee as we all know that he is an actor who plays every character in a way that you will find it completely real. Today, Zubeidaa completed 18 years of its release and we got in touch with Manoj Bajpayee to know some anecdotes about working with Karisma Kapoor, Rekha and Benegal Shyam. We asked him how does it feel to see a film that released 18 years ago still holds a special place in the history of Indian Cinema. He told us, "I feel proud when my old films are still talked about and Zubeidaa is one of them. It has been directed by one of the great filmmakers of the country, Shyam Benegal. When approached me for the role, everyone doubted on his decision of casting me as a prince. People's doubts and fears went into the air when they saw the film.
"Working with Karisma Kapoor, Rekhaji and learning horse-riding for months, spending time with Shyam and learning so from him everyday comes into my mind when I think of it now. You feel lucky to have such films in your filmography and the confidence of such a great director in your acting makes it even more special, added the actor.
Karisma and Rekha were established actors and they blurred the lines between commercial and parallel cinema with Zubeidaa. We asked Manoj about his experience of working with the two lead actresses. On this, Bajpayee told us, "Karisma was aggressively involved in the film and she was playing the titular role. She was doing something that she had not done in her career and Zubeidaa happened to her. She wanted to prove a point and one could sense it because of her passionate involvement in the project. Rekhaji was like who was a veteran expert even then. I still remember she played my wife who's older than me and she used to teach me things about etiquettes of how to hold a hand of a lady. Horse riding is something I will always remember. I used to go from Lokhandwala to Race Course every day at 5.30 am. Most of the polo scenes are done by me. Playing polo is a child play.
Manoj has been in the industry for over 25 years now and his volume of work speaks highly of his brilliance as an actor. We asked him about the current wave of the content-driven cinema and how does he see this change? Answering to our query, Bajpayee said, "The whole movement started with Ram Gopal Varma's Satya and then, many theatre actors and directors started coming in as there was a chance or space for them in the industry. That's how it started 20 years back and now, it's blooming. Now, we have to be a part of content-driven cinema. Yes, the time has changed but it took 20 years.
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