HOW MANOJ BAJPAYEE CHANGED HIS DESTINY AFTER NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA REJECTIONS
Manoj Bajpayee might be one of the most bankable actors today, however, success wasn't a frequent visitor in his life. Not many know that the performer you know today was rejected from the National School of Drama (NSD) not once but thrice! However, he took this in his stride, made the best out of the prevalent opportunities and returned to NSD â as a teacher.
On Manoj Bajpayee's birthday today, April 23 (and our Tuesday Trivia), here's an inspiring story of a man who crafted the best life for himself, solely out of multiple rejections and reached a pedestal that only a handful can aim for.
When Manoj Bajpayee first came to Delhi in the late 80s, his parents were under the impression that he was preparing for UPSC exams. After completing his graduation, a requirement for NSD entrance tests, Manoj was confident that he would make his way to the theatre training institute and that his life would be sorted out thereafter. However, fate had other plans, and he ended up getting rejected multiple times, without a Plan B at hand.
"The day I landed in Delhi, from the second day itself, I was taken by a street theatre group. After that, I kept doing theatre continuously with the hope that as soon as I completed my graduation [because it was a requirement from the National School of Drama], I would give the admission test, and I was confident that I would get through. I worked very hard for three years. I did around 420 street plays, 3-4 proscenium theatres. After doing all this, I went for the test and they rejected me," said Bajpayee at Agenda AajTak 2023.
He added, "I did not have a Plan B. I knew that my father would ask me, 'What now? And whatever Rs 200 I send you, I will not be able to send even that', because definitely, he was helpless. He had five more children to raise. I blacked out because I didn't have Plan B. And in that blackout, for a month, my friends helped me. They would be worried thinking I'd do something to myself, they were so terrified of my mental condition."
And that is when Manoj's closest friends took cognisance of the situation and, together, chipped in money to pay for his theatre group which involved an NSD alumni. And things steadily started changing for the good.
"I started seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. That rejection was not easy. What matters is having people around you who understand you and try to get you out of it. When one is going through trauma, that person has already lost his self-esteem. He doesn't have the strength to go and say, 'I am fully into the dark, please help me.' The people around him must understand and help without him having to ask for it," said Manoj.
However, Manoj Bajpayee's NSD rejection is no sob story: "I always thank NSD. I don't have a sob story out of this. I attended 364 days of my class out of 365 days [at his new acting class]. Then I returned again [to NSD] for the second year, and it didn't work out, but by then, I had started to feel at ease and confident", said 'The Family Man' actor.
Years passed. In 2019, Manoj Bajpayee was called to the same NSD that once rejected him - to teach second-year students at a 10-day workshop. And this implies that every end leads to a new beginning. If this isn't success, then what is?
2024-04-23T12:16:36Z dg43tfdfdgfd