Manoj Bajpayee recently opened up about his struggling days and recalled how he traveled to Delhi from Bihar with Rs 120
Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most sought-after actors of his generation in the Hindi film industry. Having started his journey with theatre, he often opens up about his humble beginnings, He moved to Delhi from Bihar at a young age to pursue his dream with Rs 120 in his pocket, given to him by his father, and tirelessly worked for around 18 hours. During a recent interaction with Sushant Sinha on YouTube, he also revealed that he had to learn Hindi and English after coming to Delhi. Recalling how every day was a ‘new challenge’ back then, he added, “It varied from rent, monthly expenses, bus fare, food and to make sure to attend theatre every day and learn the craft. This was my life for 10 years.”
Hailing from the village of Bettiah, Manoj stated that he travelled by train for over 2 days with her friend’s brother from Bihar to Delhi with Rs 120. He added, “We were young, so we had the ability to bear the physical exhaustion, but there wasn’t enough maturity. It was very hard to keep up mental sanity with the kind of challenges we went through every day. I had to learn Hindi, English. There was this professor in drama school, she came and said, ‘First fix his language and then we will do the rehearsals’, that came as a shock to me.”
The 55-year-old actor went on to share how he took the help of his friends to buy him food when he did not have the money after buying a bus pass. He added. “Back in the room, we were five of us, so they used to cook food, some or the other person used to cover for me. I just had a kurta, leather slippers, and a pair of jeans. This was all I had. I kept all of this in a tin box, which I still have with me. Everything I had used to fit in that tin box.”