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Ranvir Shorey
10 Bollywood Films That Bombed At The Box Offi
Manoj Bajpayee: The authentic indie star
A male sits alone in a dark room listening to a cassette player. He’s drinking whisky, humming along to Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha from the 1962 film Anpadh, occasionally murmuring the words. He’s transported by the song, but he also looks, to get a line from Heartbreak Hotel, so lonely he could die.
This is Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, the tragic centre of Aligarh, Hansal Mehta’s film on the Marathi literature professor at Aligarh Muslim University whose sexual encounter with another man was caught on camera and leaked to the press. It resulted in his suspension by the university, which he challenged in court. He won the case and was reinstated, but died shortly afterwards under mysterious circumstances.
Siras is played in the film by Manoj Bajpayee. Those who know him only through his barnstorming roles in Satya, Shool and Gangs Of Wasseypur might be surprised at the ease with which the 46-year-old actor slips under the skin of the quiet, self-effacing Siras. Out of little tics and hesitations he builds a tender production, one that makes possible a immersive empathy with a character far removed from most viewers’ experience: a middl
Dawn Images
There’s no denying that Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpai is a powerhouse of talent.
He may not be your typical masala film hero, but his performance in films prefer Shool, Satya, Pinjar, Aks, Zubeidaa and Tevar linger in public memory. It helps that his two Filmfare Awards and two National Awards have set him on everybody's radar.
His latest film Aligarh, released on February 26, has received an overwhelming response. Critics and cine-goers, queer allies and activists hail it as a milestone movie, which brings to screen the trials of a real-life homesexual professor, Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, whose sexuality is outed through a sting operation, after which he loses his job and allegedly commits suicide.
Bajpai talks about Aligarh in an exclusive conversation with Images.
“The film is about [an incident] that took place five, six years ago and went completely unnoticed by most people [in India] and could not even make headlines," he begins.
"When this story was narrated to me by the director (Hansal Mehta), I somehow felt here is somebody who’s been pushed into a battle, he is 64 years old, he’s reluctant and not interested in fi
The real superstar
We were scheduled to meet actor Manoj Bajpayee at 11am on a rainy day in Mumbai. When we reached his Lokhandwala Apartment, his guard said he has gone out to let go his five-year-old daughter, Ava, to school. His wife, Neha, too, had left early for some serve . Bajpayee met us in hardly 10 minutes of wait. He was apologetic for the delay. He was in a pair of blue jeans, ivory shirt and slippers, and there was no starry air. Even his concerns were similar to those of a common male. “We stay alone in Mumbai. We have to take care of a child as well. It is a tough life,” said Bajpayee, though accepting that his kid is easygoing.
Soon, we reached his living room—pristine white, personalised with accessories and a bar set-up in a corner. A hand-painted picture of Bajpayee as Sardar Khan from Gangs of Wasseypur I, with the dialogue, Keh ke loonga, added colour to the set-up. “It’s a present from a fan,” he informed.
As the lecherous Sardar Khan in the 2012 film made by his friend Anurag Kashyap, the actor was at his best. But as lgbtq+ professor Ramchandra Siras, in Aligarh earlier this year, he surpassed his retain benchmark. The role got him the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
Aligarh review: Manoj Bajpayee's sterling performance is marred by inconsistent writing
In terms of timeliness, Aligarh hits the bull’s eye like not many others, in a state where film industries hesitate to touch contemporary history. It arrives in theatres in a year when the national debate on the rights of LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) persons is louder than it has ever been here, with the Supreme Court earlier this month agreeing to re-examine Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that currently criminalises homosexuality.
Aligarh is based on the true story of Professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras who was thrown out of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 2010 after he was filmed by intruders while having sex with a male rickshaw puller in his quarters on campus. This happened in the year following the Delhi Elevated Court’s historic ruling reading down Section 377 to effectively decriminalise homosexuality (overturned in 2013 by the Supreme Court and now once again under the lens of a larger SC bench).
Professor Siras successfully sued AMU in the Allahabad High Court. Shortly afterwards, he was establish dead in mysterious circumstances in his apartment, in what was at first s