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Did you know Manoj Bajpayee was taken to salon immediately after he stepped into Mumbai? Director Pankaj Parashar spills beans
In a recent interview, ChaalBaaz director Pankaj Parashar revealed he was the first one to call Manoj Bajpayee to Mumbai. But he also stated that the first place the actor was taken to was a salon.
Today, Manoj Bajpayee is named among the sought-after actors of the Indian film industry. For his acting skills, he has received several accolades, including the National Film Award and Padma Shri. But there was a time when he didn’t have money to fly down to Mumbai. In fact, when he eventually managed to step into the city of dreams, the first place he was taken to was the salon.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, filmmaker Pankaj Parashar revealed how he played a key role in bringing Manoj Bajpayee to Mumbai from Delhi. When asked about his connection with The Family Man actor, Parashar stated that it was Ra.One director Anubhav Sinha who recommended Manoj to him, calling him an actor who is ‘Naseer-level’.
Eventually, the Jalwa director agreed and asked Sinha to call him to Mumbai. Since the Sonchiriya actor didn’t have money for a flight, they asked him to borrow it from someone and come to the city. On the day when the acclaimed actor landed in Mumbai, Anubhav went to pick him up at the airport. But when he saw Bajpayee, he said to him, ‘We’ll have to take you to the beauty parlor.’
Hence, Sinha took him directly to a salon. “They get him a shampoo and a facial, and then he’s brought to my house," said Parashar. When the filmmaker finally saw Manoj, his first reaction was, ‘From what angle does he look like Naseer?’ Nevertheless, he told him to start on Monday.
In the same chat, Pankaj also spoke about meeting IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack filmmaker Anubhav Sinha. He recalled back in the day when he was shooting for a children’s film, actor Raghubir Yadav brought a young man to him and stated that he wanted to assist him. But Pankaj denied it, stating he has multiple assistants already.
But Sinha was determined, and he never left the set. At the end of the day, when Pankaj Parashar saw him there, he asked him to give the clap for his project. This is how Sinha started assisting Parashar. Eventually, when the ChaalBaaz director was shooting for a series, he told Sinha that they found only actor Sanjay Mishra for it and were still in search of another actor.
This is when Sinha stated that he has one guy in Delhi who is as good as actor Naseeruddin Shah. When his posters are put up, the auditoriums go houseful, but he doesn’t have a phone. Since he had no one at hand, Pankaj finally asked Anubhav to call Manoj to Mumbai, and the rest is history.
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