I Keep Reading Script Just To Get Rid Of My Nervousness Before Shoot: Manoj Bajpayee

By Simran Sethi Despite doing several films in a career spanning over 25 years, actor Manoj Bajpayee said that he feels nervous before the shoot of any new project.

In an interview with ANI, the versatile artist opened up about his acting process and how he overcomes his anxiety ahead of the commencement of a shoot. "Script plays an important role in every film. I follow my script very seriously. I keep reading it. I keep making notes just to remind myself about all the scenes. I am fascinated with scripts that I agree to work on. I keep going through it till I know it backwards and know each and every scene. I always get nervous before the shoot...so to get rid of that nervousness I keep reading my script," he said.

Manoj also shared that he enjoys the process of getting into the skin of a character more than the actual shoot. "I love the whole process of getting into the shoes of my character. My process is extremely extensive. I annoy my directors by asking I don't know how many questions. I love asking questions. I love getting into the depth of my script. So, with each film, I try to follow this process only," he added.

Manoj, who hails from a small town in Bihar, shifted to Delhi to study and then moved to Mumbai to make a mark. It was his role of a gangster in 'Satya' that helped him taste success and then with films like 'Shool', 'Zubeidaa', 'Pinjar', 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'Traffic', 'Rajneeti' and 'Aligarh', he has proved his versatility time and again.

Currently, he is basking in the success of his back-to-back OTT shows and films such as 'The Family Man', 'Ray' and the latest ZEE 5's thriller 'Dial 100'. According to the 52-year-old actor, OTT is a blessing.

"There are so many fabulous actors who are working on OTT. Their performance is so amazing that I keep learning a thing or two from them. 

Also, over the years our industry was making films that did not accommodate these many actors but OTT has changed it. It's a blessing for every department," he shared. Coming back to his latest digital project, 'Dial 100' features Manoj as a police officer who gets a distress call from Neena Gupta's character Seema Pallav. As Manoj tries to help Neena, he soon realises their past connect which has now put his wife (Sakshi Tanwar) and their son in danger.