Manoj Bajpayee reveals why he once stopped talking to Anek's director Anubhav Sinha

Actor Manoj Bajpayee shares a close bond with esteemed director Anubhav Sinha . The actor and director have been friends for almost three decades and enjoy a great rapport with each other. However, there was a time when Bajpayee thought of not talking to Sinha ever again in life.

In a recent interaction, Bajpayee revealed an interesting anecdote from his days of struggle when he started off in Mumbai. During the chat with The Lallantop, the actor recalled an incident when Sinha did not take a stand for him. It happened during the filming of Sinha’s 1990s television show, Shikast. The actor shared that Sinha made sure that he had a role in it as he was struggling financially.

“Usne role create kia mere liye, goonge ka role, aur mujhe bhi bada interesting laga. Uss samay shooting pe jaate the toh line mein khade hote ki 100 rupees conveyance ke milenge. Voh 100 rupees humare liye bohot badi cheez hoti thi.”(He created a role for me, the role of a mute man, and I found it very interesting. In those days, we used to stand in a queue so we would get Rs 100 at the end of the shoot for conveyance. And that Rs 100 was a big thing at that time), he recalled.

Further, he shared that he went to the producers to collect his fee after four months of shooting. However, he was left shocked at his response. He explained that he was promised Rs 4000 but the producer said he should only get Rs 2000 because that payment is for dialogues. “Mujhe toh Anubhav ne bola nahi ki dialogue nahi hai tumhara. Jab dialogue hi nahi toh aadha hoga na fir paisa.”(where are your dialogues? Anubhav never told me you have no dialogues.)

After listening to his response, Bajpayee got furious at Sinha for not taking a stand for him. “Main chahta tha ki Anubhav mere liye stand le, jo ki voh kehta hai ki usne stand lia tha aur jiska mujhe nahi pata. Main usse itna naraz hua tha ki maine Anubhav se baat karna bad kar dia tha(I felt disrespected in a lot of ways, as an actor I had worked so hard, and I was still struggling with poverty. I wanted Anubhav to take a stand for me, which he says he did. But, I don’t know. I was so upset with him that I stopped talking to him.),” the actor concluded.

In the recent development, the two have buried the hatchet long back, and have announced a project together in 2020. However, the details about the same are still under wraps. Meanwhile, Bajpayee was last seen in the Amazon Prime Video series, The Family Man 2. On the other, Sinha is awaiting the release of his upcoming socio-political thriller Anek starring Ayushmann Khurrana in the lead role. It is set to release on May 27.