Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee worked with writer-editor Apurva Asrani in Hansal Mehta-directed 2016 biographical drama Aligarh. Now after three years, both of them are all set to reunite once again for a film, which will mark the directorial debut of Apurva while Manoj will act in and co-produce it. The National Award winner actor confirmed the news to a daily and said, “It will go on the floors by the year-end with a completely bound script." He further stated that he's always believed in Apurva's strength, adding that he should have changed the direction long back. "It's already too late in the day but as they say, better later than never. It will be an amazing experience to be working under his direction."
Furthermore, Apurva was quizzed about their upcoming project and he said it's "emotional story of a forgotten genius who's slowly losing his mind" adding, "the film attempts to understand if compassion and faith can reverse a mental illness". In fact, he also revealed that it was Manoj who suggested that he should turn a director after he saw his editing on Ram Gopal Varma's Satya. Back in 1998. "So, I took a tissue paper and wrote on it that he would act in my first film and paid him Rs 1 as a signing amount back in 1998," he was quoted as saying.
Last but not the least, Manoj talked about the idea of turning producer and said that it was when he hit the low before Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti. “That’s when I realised that I couldn’t wait for people to come to me with good roles. I had to think up ideas myself and approach new filmmakers," he concluded.
The actor was last seen in Abhishek Chaubey's Sonchiriya, co-starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Bhumi Pednekar.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
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