Manoj Bajpayee as Bhiku Mhatre in Satya. (courtesy: bajpayee.manoj)
Manoj Bajpayee, who has had a glorious film career, looked back at his milestone project Satya as the film clocked 25 years on Monday. The actor described the film as a "game changer" not only for his career but also for the Hindi film industry at large. Besides critical acclaim and his first National Film Award win (in the Best Supporting Actor category), Satya also brought Manoj Bajpayee better acting opportunities and entry into big offices, the actor told news agency PTI."I 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 offices," PTI quoted Manoj Bajpayee as saying.
Manoj Bajpayee's role as Mumbai goon Bhiku Mhatre went on to become an iconic character. On how the film changed his life, Manoj Bajpyee told PTI, "Satya gave me a career. I did not work before Satya... That's how life changed, and this is how any other actor's life changes in this industry."
The 54-year-old actor recalled what the audience's reaction was when the film first hit the theatres back in 1998. "For 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 up," said Manoj Bajpayee.
As the film clocked 25 years, Manoj Bajpayee shared a post which had clippings of his iconic character Bhiku Mhatre from the movie and he captioned it: "Mumbai ka king kaun (who is the king of Mumbai) #25YearsOfSatya."
Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Satya showcased a world of crime in Mumbai. J D Chakravarthy played the titular role in the film. The film's cast also included Urmila Matondkar, Shefali Shah, Saurabh Shukla, Makarand Deshpande, Paresh Rawal. The film's track Sapne Mein, Goli Maar, among others remain popular even today.
(With inputs from PTI)