The film ‘Bandit Queen’, which came in the year 1994, was very popular. Manoj Bajpayee won all-round praise for playing the role of Man Singh in this film. He brought life to this role with his acting. Then Manoj Bajpayee was struggling to make his place in the industry. After ‘Bandit Queen’, he was hitting his feet in the industry. In the meantime, Prakash Jha offered him a big role in his film ‘Mrityudand’. Bajpayee came to meet Prakash Jha at the behest of one of his companions.
Prakash Jha was a big name of the industry in those days. There was an influx of people who met him. When Manoj Bajpayee came to meet Prakash Jha, he was stunned to hear one of his words and for many days the same thing kept revolving in his mind. Journalist-writer Piyush Pandey writes in his biography of Manoj Bajpayee published by Penguin that ‘Manoj now narrates this incident very politely but what happened that day shook Manoj to the core….
Pandey in his book quotes Manoj Bajpayee’s friend Anish Ranjan as writing, “Manoj, when he came to meet Prakash Jha, told me the incident. When Manoj reached under his building, Prakash Jha was found standing below. There were other people with him. Manoj did not like talking in front of everyone. Told her softly to Prakash Jha that he wants to talk to her for 2 minutes….
‘Shall I go to Khandala to talk?’ On this Prakash Jha said very rudely- ‘Should I go to Khandala to talk to you?’ This talk of Prakash Jha hit Manoj Bajpayee’s heart. No one has treated him like this. Manoj Bajpayee was deeply saddened by Prakash Jha’s attitude.
‘I have made a mistake, forgive’: Piyush Pandey writes that later I asked Prakash Jha about this incident, he said that I do not remember, but must have met. Because in those days I had an office in Adarsh Nagar, Delhi. Many people used to come here to meet. What can I do if I don’t recognize someone’s talent? I would say that brother, I had made a mistake, forgive me.
Later became good friends: Manoj Bajpayee made his own identity in the industry on the basis of his hard work and ability. Manoj Bajpayee and Prakash Jha developed a very good relationship in the later days. The two worked together in films like Politics, Chakravyuh, Aarakshan and Satyagraha.