Naam Shabana star Manoj Bajpayee chats with t2 about his reasons for being a part of the Baby spin-off, his brush with short films and why he will never lobby for awards. 

From Aligarh to Budhia Singh: Born to Run and multiple short films, 2016 was quite a year for you!

Yeah. I didn’t plan it. It just so happened that everything released at the same time. I ended up promoting more films than I shot! (Laughs) I am starting this year with Naam Shabana and then Sarkar 3 where I have a special appearance. I am hoping that Missing, a film that I have produced, releases this year. Tabu has acted in it with me.

In Naam Shabana, you play an intelligence officer who finds Shabana, played by Taapsee Pannu. You played an intelligence officer in Special 26 as well... 

The characters might have similar jobs, but they are very different people. Waseem (Manoj’s character in Special 26) thought he was quite smart, but really he was very stupid. He was very touchy about his family and would get flustered every time he saw his wife without a dupatta! Ranvir Singh (in Naam Shabana) doesn’t have a family. He is a very unemotional man who is not interested in anything apart from his job.

What made you want to be a part of this film?

It was Neeraj Pandey. He is a magnificent director, but more than that we have a relationship that goes beyond films. I would take any opportunity to work with him. Neeraj has both written and produced this film. Shivam Nair, who is someone we have all looked up to, has directed this film. Shivam has done some exceptional work on television. Shivam and Sriram Raghavan have mentored directors like Anurag Kashyap and Imtiaz Ali. I have known Shivam since those days. So I had many reasons to do this film.

You mentioned short films and you have worked in quite a few. Did you enjoy the format?

Yeah. There was Tandav that did the rounds of the international festival circuit. Neeraj Pandey’s Ouch made people laugh and there was Shirish Kunder’s Kriti. At this juncture of my career, I just want to keep working. Any actor’s job is to just act. The medium doesn’t matter. I did these short films because my wife Shabana kept pushing me to do them. She convinced me that this is the medium of the future. I would like to believe that my presence in their short films made some kind of a difference. 

For a performance as incredible as Aligarh, not to be acknowledged at the awards must anger you?

Not really. You don’t act for awards. I have become an actor because I loved it and not because I thought I would win awards or sign autographs and become rich. To not get an award doesn’t mean that you are not good at your job. 

There was also that whole confusion with the Padma Awards... 

That was just hilarious. Someone sent me a link that said my name was on a shortlist for the Padma Bhusan awards. This was about a month before the awards were to be announced. On the day that they were announced, Hansal Mehta (who directed Manoj in Aligarh) tweeted congratulating me. Before anyone could check that tweet, everyone started congratulating me. But there was no confirmation from the government. So, I asked everyone to delete their tweets. I know that I deserve many, many awards. I have dedicated 23 years of my life to this profession. But if I am not getting… I don’t really care. 

I read a story that quoted an anonymous politician saying, ‘To get a Padma Award, the artiste has to lobby hard. Manoj didn’t even try’. 

I am not someone who will ever lobby for any award! If I ever won an award that I lobbied for, I would be so ashamed of it. I would feel like I didn’t deserve it. This is such an irresponsible statement to make. This politician is making fun of the Padma Awards.

There has been talk that your wife Shabana refused a role in the Sanjay Dutt biopic. Is that true?

It is. Shabana (who acted in films like Kareeb and Fiza) has been thinking about getting back to acting, but not at this point of time. Our daughter is five years old and we don’t have a support system. Shabana is a hands-on mother. This film needed quite a few days from her and she wasn’t confident that she could handle both work and taking care of our daughter. Shabana is an actor who has taken time off for her child. She will get back to films.