Manoj Bajpayee Reacts To Losing National Award To Shah Rukh Khan: It’s A Loser Conversation

Actor Manoj Bajpayee is loved by the audience for his commitment to his craft and brilliance in acting. In his career spanning over 30 years, he has delivered some of the stellar performances in films like Satya, Shool, Gangs of Wasseypur, Aligarh, 1971, Bhonsle, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai and Gulmohar, among others.

Bajpayee bagged the National Film Awards several times. This time, the National Award for Best Actor went to Shah Rukh Khan for Jawan, which ignited debate on social media. While congratulatory messages poured in for the superstar, some felt that there were better actors than him who should have received the honour. Some even pointed out that Bajpayee was more deserving for his performance in Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai. The actor has now opened up about the entire debate and called it a 'loser conversation'.

Manoj Bajpayee on the comparisons

In an interview with India Today, Bajpayee called the entire debate a 'useless conversation because it is gone'. However, he said that Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai and Joram are very special films and are going to be on top of his filmography. "But I don’t discuss these things because it is a very loser conversation. It is in the past, and it should be left alone," he said.

Manoj on the award system

The National Film Awards are criticised for their commercial appeal and for not valuing artistic excellence. Sharing his views, Manoj said, "It’s not just about national awards. It’s about all the awards that were revered. They should seriously think about how they are operating. Because it is not about my respect, I take care of my respect very cautiously when I am choosing a film, and I am very responsible to the actor that I am. But each and every organisation has to think of itself, that’s not my job. If somebody else is losing their respect, they should think about it."

For him, the idea of the entire award system is wrong. "There are four great performances in different genres altogether. You cannot compare four great performances coming from four different genres of films competing with each other. You cannot. The challenges or the requirements were very, very different. So all of them are great, but you are deciding to give one person the award. That is your setup. That is your system, which is good,” he added.

On the work front, Manoj was recently seen in Netflix's Inspector Zende. His internationally acclaimed film Jugnuma also released in theatres last week.