Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta recently opened up about actor Manoj Bajpayee's mood swings during the shoot of their 2000 film Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar. The film also starred Tabu, Gajraj Rao, Saurabh Shukla and others. In one of his latest interviews, Mehta recalled the difficulties he experienced with the actor when they worked together.
In a roundtable by by Cinema Express, Hansal Mehta stated that he enjoys working with people he gets along easily. "It’s about the connection that you feel. Manoj has major mood swings. We made Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar in 2000, and he was a pain in that film," the director said.
However, Hansal Mehta further clarified that Manoj Bajpayee is not a 'bad person'. He added, "At heart, he’s a nice guy. He’s not a bad person. You get that vibe. When we were working together, I used to get very irritated. I would ask, ‘Manoj, why are you behaving like this?’ That was the time when Manoj would take the character and just go."
"I don’t know how he decided that the character should be irritable, but he thrust it on everyone. Everyone used to run away from him. Saurabh (Shukla) used to be like, ‘I went to speak to him and he was mean. What’s wrong with him?'" he concluded.
Later, in 2015, Manoj Bajpayee and Hansal Mehta collaborated for the film Aligarh.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Manoj Bajpayee will be seen in the comedy crime drama Killer Soup opposite Konkana Sensharma. The web series will release on January 11 on Netflix. Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, it is loosely inspired by a news headline and serves up a "tantalising blend of intrigue and dark humour".
The actor will also be seen in the much-awaited third season of The Family Man.