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National Award winning actor Manoj Bajpayee, known for his unique acting ability, simplicity and depth of characters in Indian cinema, has once again amazed the audience and film critics. The first official look of Manoj Bajpayee from an ambitious historical film being directed by renowned filmmaker Sudhir Mishra has created a stir on the internet as soon as it was made public. In this much talked about project, Manoj Bajpayee is seen playing the historical and challenging role of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu).
Manoj Bajpayee’s look in the first picture is so authentic, lifelike and unexpected that at first glance it becomes difficult to recognize that he is the same actor who has worked in ‘Satya’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘The Family Man’ or ‘Sirf Ek Banda Kafi Hai’. Seeing the combination of historical glasses with round wires, half baldness on the head, thin body, white khadi sheet on the shoulder and that calm, gentle but unwavering self-confidence of Gandhi on his face, cinema lovers have been forced to bite their fingers.
Manoj Bajpayee has always been considered a complete school of ‘Method Acting’ in the cinema world. According to sources, Manoj Bajpayee has followed a rigorous physical and mental routine over the past several months to get into this timeless character of Mahatma Gandhi:
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Drastic Weight Reduction: To portray Gandhiji’s distinctive and frail looking but steely physique from within, the actor has lost a lot of weight with the help of a special diet and yoga.
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Amazing prosthetics and makeup: The help of international level prosthetic and make-up artists has been taken to exactly recreate the wrinkles on Gandhiji’s face, the distinctive shape of the ears and the pattern of hair on the head. The make-up has been designed in such a way that the natural expressions of the face and the sparkle of the eyes are directly reflected on the screen without any artificiality.
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Voice and body language training: To capture not just the costumes, but Gandhiji’s fast walking pace, unique way of holding the stick, subtle hand gestures and his slow, steady and clear dialogue delivery, Manoj Bajpayee spent weeks studying old video footage and original audio recordings of Gandhiji available in historical archives.
Director Sudhir Mishra—known for making offbeat, intellectual and realistic films like ‘Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi’, ‘Dharavi’, ‘Chameli’ and ‘Serious Men’—is not making this project like a typical Wikipedia-style biopic.
According to film analysts, instead of retelling the entire story of Mahatma Gandhi from his birth to his death, the film will focus on an extremely sensitive, stressful and ideologically turbulent period of his life. In this, Gandhiji’s philosophy of non-violence, his internal human conflict during the partition of the country, ideological differences with his then contemporary leaders and his mental strength in his last days will be psychologically investigated. Sudhir Mishra’s political and social understanding has always been very sharp, in such a situation, when the edge of his direction and the dedication of Manoj Bajpayee’s acting are coming together, it is indicating the creation of a new classic in the cinema world.
Playing the character of Mahatma Gandhi has always been considered the biggest litmus test for any actor in the history of global and Indian cinema:
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In the year 1982, Sir Ben Kingsley played such an immortal character of Bapu in Sir Richard Attenborough’s world famous film ‘Gandhi’ for which he received the Oscar Award for Best Actor.
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In Shyam Benegal’s excellent film ‘The Making of the Mahatma’ (1996), Rajit Kapoor won the National Award for bringing alive the young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi of the South African era on screen.
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In Kamal Haasan’s film ‘Hey Ram’ (2000), veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah had beautifully portrayed Gandhiji’s pain and Gujarati accent during the partition.
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In Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ (2006), Marathi theater veteran Dilip Prabhavalkar gave a modern and soulful look to Bapu’s principles and ‘Gandhigiri’.
Now that Manoj Bajpayee has come forward to carry forward this legacy, the expectations of the audience and critics are at their peak. Manoj Bajpayee’s specialty has been that he never merely ‘mimics’ any great man or character, but instead conveys the struggle of that character’s soul and conscience through his eyes and expressions.
As soon as the first look of Manoj Bajpayee as Gandhi was revealed on social media, there was a flood of praise on X (Twitter), Instagram and cinema forums. Fellow Bollywood actors, directors and audiences have unanimously called it ‘cinematic magic’. Netizens are commenting that Manoj Bajpayee has the unlimited ability to adapt to any appearance like a chameleon and this role can prove to be the biggest turning point of his career. Many critics have already started calling it a strong contender for the next National Awards.
Currently, the makers have maintained complete secrecy regarding the film’s release date, official title and the rest of the star cast, but this single first look has decided that when this film will hit the theatres, it will not be just a film, but will give rise to a serious and historical cinematic debate on Indian history and Gandhian philosophy.