I fought my battle in world of commercialism: Manoj Bajpayee

Vancouver (Canada), April 6 (IANS) National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee says he faced his share of struggle when he began his career, especially at a time when the world was living amid commercialism.

Manoj's career took off in a big way post the success of 1998 film "Satya", which not only won him commercial success, but the prestigious National Award too. Post the crime saga, he did commendable jobs in "Kaun?", "Shool" and Chandraprakash Dwivedi-directed period drama "Pinjar", which once again won him a National Award.

His recent hit was Anurag Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur".

"When I got recognition with 'Satya', every year I used to do one film because there were not many scripts. There were no multiplexes, so I kept on fighting my battle in a world that lived in its own commercialism," Manoj told IANS here on the sidelines of the maiden edition of the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) Friday.

However, thanks to "emerging" scripts, he believes actors like him are now getting prominence.

"Now things are changing. Since (past) five years, new directors have hit the screen, multiplexes are there and suddenly my kind of films are getting success. Great actors are getting work, so it's good time for everybody," he added.

Manoj is currently enjoying the "celebration" in Vancouver, where the bigwigs of the Hindi film industry have congregated for TOIFA. The main awards event is to be held Saturday.

"To choose the winner from the fraternity is little difficult for the jury. Somehow, I feel that even though you find the winner, you can't be sure whether he or she is winner in true sense.

"Two different films and two different performances cannot be judged at the same platform. It's the function that needs to be taken very lightly without any seriousness," added Manoj, who is now awaiting the release of his next films "Shootout At Wadala" and "Satyagraha".

Manoj Bajpai Pictures