Actor Manoj Bajpayee opened up about training under acting coach Barry John in New Delhi, where he was batchmates with Shah Rukh Khan. He said that they didn’t hang out together, because he belonged to a different world and desired different things. Manoj said that he didn’t feel the need to be surrounded by a bunch of followers, and denied that he’s upset about the level of success that Shah Rukh has achieved.
In an interview with Barkha Dutt on Mojo Story, Manoj was asked if he’s bitter about Shah Rukh’s massive stardom, even though they both started out together. “Shah Rukh Khan always wanted to be loved, to be a star, to be the centre of attention. That was not my target,” he said. “I was completely okay with not being surrounded by 20 people in my theatre group. I was completely okay with nobody looking at me. I was completely okay with being a fly on the wall.”
Asked if these differences affect his confidence, he said, “Your confidence breaks after failure, not because he’s more popular than I am.” Manoj credited Barry John for empowering him and not judging him for not being able to speak English. “Many times, he would throw this challenge at me, whenever he was doing an English play with Divya (Seth) or Rituraj (Singh) or Shah Rukh, he’d give me a small role,” he said.
Asked if he and Shah Rukh were contemporaries, Manoj said, “We knew each other, but our friend circle wasn’t the same. People have to understand, we come from different worlds. People ask why we do not meet, and I tell them, ‘We can’t meet’. Even back then, he belonged to a ‘khas duniya’. Just because one studies in Jamia doesn’t make them a regular person. I wasn’t surrounded by 10 people at all times. Shah Rukh was always a charming guy, he was always surrounded by people.”
While Shah Rukh has remained at the pinnacle of the Hindi film industry for three decades, Manoj has attained success in bursts. He broke out with a role in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya, and then achieved streaming stardom thanks to The Family Man. He can now be seen in Kanu Behl’s Despatch.
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