Manoj Bajpayee talks about conscious choice not to pursue stardom

In a recent interview, the actor compared his fame to that of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgn’s stardom.

Recently, in a new interview, actor Manoj Bajpayee, who will next be seen in Raam Reddy’s Jugnuma, spoke about his ‘conscious choice’ not to pursue stardom. He said that he now feels claustrophobic when surrounded by new fans.

Manoj Bajpayee on not pursuing stardom anymore.

Speaking with Bollywood Bubble, Manoj Bajpayee compared his fame to that of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgn’s stardom. He said he isn’t habituated to emotional fans’ reactions and has been focusing on his work. He said, “I have been working. I have never gotten into a space where people are chasing me, or following me, or asking for, or, you know, they are just crying, looking at you. I’ve never had those kinds of reactions coming from the audience. I’ve been doing my work. Some of them went through the roof. Some of them were middle-range, some stayed under the radar. So, since my path was not something which would lead to so-called stardom, and it was a conscious choice, I was fine doing those films.”

“I’m used to having no fans.”

He said that, because of OTT, he has been seen in a variety of roles and genres. The Jugnuma actor added, “When I’m surrounded by new fans now, I find it claustrophobic because this is not what I’m used to. Look, Salman, Saif, Ajay, Shah Rukh, Aamir, they are used to it. They got their stardom at the age of 25, 26, right? They don’t even know what it is to be without fans. I am used to having no fans. So I find it too much, too much interference into my privacy.”

Manoj Bajpayee will be next seen in Jugnuma (The Fable). It is set in the late 80s and follows Manoj’s character Dev, who discovers mysteriously burnt trees in his sprawling estate of fruit orchards. The film also stars TillotamaShome, Deepak Dobariyal, Priyanka Bose, AwanPookot and Hiral Sidhu in the lead roles.