Manoj Bajpayee: 2021 has been great career wise, but few major hiccups personally

His show has been perhaps the most talked about show of 2021. The Family Man is among those rare shows, whose second season became more popular than the first one, and catapulted Manoj Bajpayee’s fame to another level.

He calls the reaction ‘overwhelming’. “The manner in which people received it, and spread the word… new audiences also came in. Even though season one was a runaway success, and because of the pandemic, they again got locked up. Then people who had not watched season one, they watched it and came to the second. It took us all by surprise, the manner in which it was received globally. The feeling is very obvious, we all are very happy,” he quips.

The year has been a very hectic one for the actor, shooting back to back for new projects such as Despatch, and Ray, Dial 100 and Silence… Can You Hear It? releasing on OTT platforms.

“It continues to be hectic. With the commitments I have in hand, it is only going to be like this till the end of 2023. I am supposed to finish all the films I have committed to, it is exhausting. But I can’t help it. Only for this reason, I have stopped reading new scripts and taking narrations. At this point of time, I don’t have any dates,” says Bajpayee.

Apart from the professional highs, he had to face some personal lows too. He caught Covid, the shoot of his film Despatch had to stop due to Covid cases on set, and he lost his father. He says, “On few counts, it was a difficult time. I lost my father… you cannot compensate for your parents, that is something one has to live with. I am learning to live with that fact.