'Satya' changed the way people looked at filmmaking: Manoj Bajpayee on film's 25th anniversary

TermingSatyaa game changer in India cinema Manoj Bajpayee says the film gave him a career and it was only after its humongous success that he started getting roles respect and entry into big officesDirected by Ram Gopal VarmaSatyareleased in theatres 25 years ago and the film is still lauded by cinema enthusiasts for its execution and treatment It focused on the underbelly of the world of crime through the titular character essayed by JD ChakravarthyBajpayee who played the flamboyant and ambitious gangster Bhiku Mhatre in the 1998 film said the cult classic altered storytelling style in Hindi cinemaldquoI look at it as a game changer It has completely changed the industry From the way the stories were told to the craft or the way people look at filmmaking or performances everything was so new both for the industry and audience After the humongous success of Satya I started getting roles respect and entry into big officesrdquo the 54yearold actor told PTI in an interviewSatya also starring Saurabh Shukla Urmila Matondkar Shefali Shah Makarand Deshpande Paresh Rawal Govind Namdeo and Aditya Srivastav hit the screens on July 3 1998Unlike conventional gangster drama plots the movie revolved around real people warts and all he saidAll you see is not largerthanlife people but people who are very real people who you see in their dark and brightest phase Thatrsquos how human beings are It is shown with so much realism creativity and newness Thatrsquos why it stood the test of time and thatrsquos why people still celebrateSatya Bajpayee addedThe love for film was not instant the actor recalled saying that people started coming to the theatres based on word of mouthldquoFor a week there was no audience inside the theatres Only after the word of mouth started getting stronger and stronger from the second week onwards it started attracting people and theatres started filling upSatyawent on to run in cinema halls for close to 25 weeks and emerged as one of the last silver jubilee films of the country the actor said adding that the team was awarded a trophy to mark the milestone at a functionBajpayees acting career also took off afterSatya He had previously starred in films such asBandit QueenDrohkaalandTamannaldquoSatyagave me a career I did not work beforeSatya Thatrsquos how life changed and this is how any other actorrsquos life changes in this industryrdquo he addedThe film also helped him win his first National Film Award in the Best Supporting Actor category a complete surprise for the actor at the time He recalled that his late secretary Bhaskar Shetty informed him about the honourldquoI was completely surprised it was difficult for me to believe it He Shetty asked me to watch the news It was a dream come true I always wanted to win a National Award and lsquoSatyarsquo made it possible for merdquoThe actor who claims to have only once seenSatyain its entirety believes the younger generation has also embraced the film with enthusiasmView this post on InstagramA post shared by Manoj Bajpayee bajpayeemanojldquoI still get to hear from people that they find it amazing Even now the movie leaves people mesmerized with its making music performances direction and all of itrdquo Bajpayee said adding he has many favourite moments from the film but itrsquos difficult to pinpoint just oneBhiku Mhatre may have become a fan favourite character fromSatyabut the thennewcomer Bajpayee found it challenging to portray this role It required a lot of hard work he recalledThe actor who at the time only had Mahesh Bhatts TV programmeSwabhimaanin his kitty said he was able to dedicate a lot of time toSatyaMy focus was completely on creating Bhiku Mhatre I tried everything possible for it It is difficult to talk about methods in one interview Someday I may write a book on it because a lot has gone into itIt was based on imagination and the experience with criminals I have seen or interacted with a little bit when I was in Bihar Also whatever stories Mr Ram Gopal Varma used to narrate from the underworld The research that he had done I used it to prepare for my rolerdquo Bajpayee addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever