Actor Manoj Bajpayee, whose latest film Bhaiya Ji is currently in theaters, recently talked about his early days in films and revealed how much money he made for his first film role. Manoj first appeared in a supporting role in Shekhar Kapur’s dacoit drama Bandit Queen in 1994. In the same year, Manoj also appeared in the film Drohkaal.
In an interview with Mashable Middle East, Manoj Bajpayee was asked about his first salary. The actor was making Aloo Bhujiya inside the kitchen of chef Ranveer Brar’s restaurant on the show, when he immediately answered the question and said, “It was Rs 50,000 for Bandit Queen. Six years later, I did a film, I won’t tell its name, but I got Rs 1,50,000.
The actor has grown steadily over the decades since his debut in the 90s. Manoj Bajpayee became a household name when he emerged as a gangster with Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya in 1998. But before achieving popular status, Bajpayee had to struggle to reach the top.
Talking about his fees, Bajpayee had earlier shared how his fees from a TV show directed by Anubhav Sinha were halved because the producer felt that he had no dialogues as a silent character. And he didn’t deserve the full payment Rs 4,000 per day. The actor had recalled how in those days, he would stand in the queue at the end of the shoot to pay Rs 100 for transportation, which was a significant amount.
But after four months, when he went to collect his fees, the producer wondered why he was getting Rs 4,000. “I said you guys are the ones who fixed it. He said that I should get only Rs 2,000. I asked why? He thought that payment is for dialogues, where are your dialogues? Experience never told me that you have no communication,” he said in an interview with The Llantop.
