Mumbai, Nov 3: National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee recently recounted a memorable, and rather inebriated, first encounter with acclaimed filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
The anecdote, which has resurfaced from an old episode of The Kapil Sharma Show featuring Bajpayee and director Anubhav Sinha, offers a candid glimpse into the actor’s early struggles and unexpected interactions in the industry.
Bajpayee shared that Mahesh Bhatt, impressed by his work, invited him to his home late one evening. “Once, I got a message from Mahesh Bhatt. He said, ‘I have seen your episode. You call me on this number, right now’. It was 10:30 pm. I called him up, he asked me what I was doing. I said, ‘Sir, I am not doing anything’. He told me to come,” Bajpayee recalled. Upon arrival, after Bhatt praised his performance in ‘Swahimaan’, he offered Bajpayee a drink.
What followed was a humorous turn of events. Bajpayee, keen to make a good impression on such a prominent personality, discreetly kept refilling his glass. “I had a drink. I felt as if I was drinking water. You were fooling me. Whenever he went inside for some work, I would make another drink, have it, and behave as if nothing happened,” he revealed. The actor humorously concluded, “After an hour, I saw 4 Mahesh Bhatt sir. After 40 minutes, I couldn’t understand if these are the right people. Or these are the right people. Or these are the wrong people,” highlighting the extent of his intoxication during this unforgettable first meeting.