- By Tapapriya Dutta
- Fri, 12 Sep 2025 04:38 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Manoj Bajpayee has been busy promoting his back-to-back releases, Inspector Zende and Jugnuma. Despite being one of the topmost actors in the industry, Manoj never chased stardom. The three-time national award-winning actor talked about how he avoided the glamour-driven path of stardom. He recently explained that he feels claustrophobic when fans now surround him, as he is not used to it. Manoj also compared the situation with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and stated how used to they are being surrounded by their fans.
In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Manoj Bajpayee said, “I have been working. I have never gotten into a space where people are chasing me, or following me, or asking for, or, you know, they are just crying looking at you. I’ve never had those kinds of reactions coming from the audience.”
He continued, “Some of them went through the roof. Some of them were middle-range, some stayed under the radar… So, since my path was not something which would lead to so-called stardom and it was a conscious choice, I was fine doing those films.”
While talking about stardom, Manoj Bajpayee added, “When I’m surrounded by new fans now, I find it claustrophobic because this is not what I’m used to. Look, Salman, Saif, Ajay, Shah Rukh, Aamir they are used to it. They got their stardom at the age of 25, 26, right? They don’t even know what it is to be without fans. I am used to having no fans. So I find it too much too much interference into my privacy.”
Today, his film Jugnuma (The Fable) released on the big screens. The movie also featured Priyanka Bose, Tillotama Shome, Deepak Dobriyal, Hiral Sidhu and Gurpal Singh in key roles. It has been directed by Raam Reddy and produced by Raam Reddy, Pratap Reddy, Sunmin Park, Juhi Agarwal. The movie has received overwhelming responses from the audience.
Prior to Jugnuma, Bajpayee was seen in Inspector Zende. The movie is based on former Mumbai police officer Madhukar Zende, who caught the most wanted criminal Charles Sobhraj twice. It also featured Jim Sarbh in the lead roles