Feeling happy that ‘Bhonsle’s journey ended on a high note by winning National Award says Manoj Bajpayee

Actor Manoj Bajpayee, who recently announced as Best actor at National Film Awards for his performance in ‘Bhonsle’, has said that he is feeling really happy that his intense drama film’s journey ended on a high note after getting the country's most covered honour. He also shared that he has tested negative from Covid-19. He urged people not to take the disease lightly and follow safety precautions.  

Manoj Bajpayee was interacting with News Helpline in Mumbai.

The 67th National Film awards for films that released in the year 2019 were announced recently and  the award for the Best Actor was this time shared between Dhanush for the Tamil film ‘Asuran’ and Manoj Bajpayee for the Hindi film ‘Bhonsle’.

Sharing the feeling after winning the award, Bajpayee said, “I am feeling very happy that I got a best actor award for my performance in ‘Bhonsle’ because we went through a very tough time while making this film. It took us four years to find producers for the film. People didn’t want to invest in an independent film but somehow we managed to release the film and now, when I look back, I feel that the journey of this film has ended on a really high note. The film has received many international awards and now it has got a National award, so there is nothing bigger achievement than this for the team of ‘Bhonsle’”.

Directed by Devashish Makhija, ‘Bhonsle’ features the 51-year-old actor as a retired Mumbai Police constable who tries to help migrants fight against local politicians. The Hindi film marks Bajpayee's third National Award win after best supporting actor honour for 1998 crime drama ‘Satya’ and special jury National Award for ‘Pinjar’ (2003).

‘Silence… Can You Hear It?’ stars Manoj Bajpayee, Arjun Mathur, Prachi Desai, Sahil Vaid, Waqar Sheikh, and Barkha Singh in key roles. When Pooja, daughter of retired Justice Chaudhary, is found murdered under mysterious circumstances, ACP Avinash Verma (Manoj Bajpayee) and his team are roped in to investigate the high-profile case.The film is streaming on ZEE5 from 26^th March.

Talking about the film, Bajpayee said, “In this film, retired Justice Chaudhary’s daughter has been killed, so it’s about how my character and his team investigate the high profile case. This film shows how Police department minutely investigate criminal offence like murder. The film has been released on ZEE5 and we are getting really positive feedback for the film. The good thing about releasing films on OTT platforms is that you don’t have to deal with number games as opposed to when you release films in theatres, so I hope that more and more people will watch and appreciate our film”.

Giving an update on his health, Bajpayee said, “Since last 16 days, my wife and I were under quarantine period and today, I tested negative for Covid-19, so I am happy about it but I am feeling weakness in my body. Today, it was the screening of my film, so it was my responsibility to promote it in a positive manner and that’s why I got outside my house. I have gone through it, so with my experience I want to tell people not to take this thing (Covid-19) lightly. It’s a weird kind of disease because you cannot predict what will happen to you in the next few hours or days, so I urge people to wear masks and follow rules of social distancing.”

On the work front, Manoj Bajpayee will next be seen in Amazon Prime Video’s web series ‘The Family Man 2’, Rensil D’Silva’s thriller-drama film ‘Dial 100’ and Kanu Behl’s thriller film ‘Despatch’.