Coming from a small village of Bihar, Manoj Bajpayee struggled his way to success in Bollywood but the actor says people in India are more interested in achievements rather than the journey.
The 47-year-old actor, who will be seen essaying the role of marathon star Budhia Singh’s coach in “Budhia Singh – Born To Run,” says be it an actor or an athlete, India lacks the system to discover a talent and nurture it.
“We in our country lack the system to find talent and promote or train them. The problem is we don’t consider the talent when he/she is in process.
“We like to see achievers but we don’t like to see the struggle. We don’t want to know about the preparation. This ignorance has to go away,” Manoj told PTI in an interview.
“Budhia Singh- Born To Run” is based on the life a child from Odisha, who was listed as the world’s youngest marathon runner in the Limca book of records.
Manoj says when they were making the biopic, they were keen to promote Budhia as well.
“As an actor or a filmmaker this is the best we can do to get support for the film as well as Budhia, who is left alone without a coach, without a mentor, without any direction. He is dying to train today,” he says.
Manoj’s “Aligarh” had faced trouble with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and in “Budhia” too he faced some problems with the board.
The actor believes filmmakers should unite to fight arbitrary suggestions by the censor board.
“The battle with CBFC is not new, it has always been there. With every chairperson the way changes. At the end of the day, we have to look at the board and the significance of it.
“CBFC cannot have the job of scissoring, banning or not allowing certification. My film ‘Saat Uchakke’ is stuck since the longest time. It’s with the tribunal now. We made a film one and a half year ago and it is still stuck. Whatever the tribunal will say, we will abide by it,” Manoj said.
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy glamsham.com
