Mohar Basu mohar. basu@ mid- day. com The barrage of offerings available online may be deceptive, but the growth of the web platform in India is still considered to be in a nascent stage. And even though it may be argued that the crop of Bollywood actors who forayed into the digital medium did so rather early, Manoj Bajpayee admits that several offers had come his way before he gave his nod to The Family Man.
u201c It was clutter- breaking,u201d he says of the Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK ( Raj & DK) offering that tells the tale of a middle- class man secretly working as an intelligence officer. The positive reactions to the Amazon Prime Video series was testimony that Bajpayee had expectedly packed enough punch into his subtle act as the protagonist. u201c This kind of a storyline has not been seen on any platform. Raj and DK have a sparkling style of writing, and I was sure they could craft it uniquely. Some stories are about a few [ assorted] scenes, but, in this case, the writing, [ as a whole], was fresh. I was lured,u201d says the actor, adding that as is demanded of a finite series, each character was beautifully etched.
A tale about a man secretly working for an intelligence agency would seem like fodder for those with a keen interest in solving mysteries. But Bajpayee points to the dramatics in his characteru2019s relationships, when highlighting the element that strongly impacted him. u201c The scene where [ my character] fights with his wife, and they then move from one room of the house to the other, was [ improvised]. A lot of these interpersonal scenes evolved while we were on set, and the experiments worked for viewers. The characteru2019s transition, from being a common man to one who serves an intelligence agency, was delicious to explore. Raj and DK were clear that this guy is no James Bond. Men working in intelligence departments are ordinary- looking guys doing extraordinary work. De- glamorising him was necessary to give viewers a sense of reality, including his middle- class lifestyle, which comprises small cars, basic schooling for children and a crazy work schedule.u201d Bajpayee canu2019t reveal too much about the second instalment, but promises that new entrant Samantha Akkineni will be the u201c head- turneru201d. u201c We have many new actors from across India and it will be a fitting second season.u201d More about The Family Man u00a3 The hospital seen in the show was a real one. The inauguration of a cancer ward was being done in between the shooting stint. The staff had requested Bajpayee to help inaugurate the ward, and he happily obliged.
u00a3 Co- director Krishna DK plays Nikhil, whose character is inspired by one of his entrepreneur friends, Anupam Mittal.
u00a3 Vijay Vikram, the actor playing Ajit, also apparently lends his voice to Bigg Boss. In between shots, he would rush back to dub for the running episodes of the Salman Khan- hosted show.
Nominated in Best Actor ( Male) category in the upcoming Mid- day and Radio City Hitlist Web Awards, The Family Man actor Manoj Bajpayee on exploring relationships in show that revolves around an intelligence agent u2018 Loved the character- arcu2019 Cast your vote for the Hitlist Web Awards u00a3 Manoj Bajpayee has been nominated in the Best Actor ( Male) category for Amazon Prime Videou2019s The Family Man. The other nominees are: u00bb Arjun Mathur ( Made In Heaven; Amazon Prime) u00bb Nawazuddin Siddiqui ( Sacred Games S02; Netflix) u00bb Vikrant Massey ( Criminal Justice; Hotstar) u00bb Dhruv Sehgal ( Little Things S03; Netflix) u00bb Mohit Raina ( Kaafir; Zee5) u00a3 There are 14 categories that the public can vote for. Log on to www.
hitlistwebawards. com to cast your vote.
u00a3 You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST category name your choice ( a/ b/ c/ d as on the website) to 57575 u00a3 Voting lines for public open: February 14; close: March 8
