Manoj Bajpayee looks back on his theatre days with Shah Rukh Khan: “No one would smoke one cigarette all by themselves”

Manoj Bajpayee and Shah Rukh Khan were in the same theatre group in Delhi and started their acting journey together. During those days, the actors were struggling to make it to the big screen and didn’t have their pockets full. In a recent interview, Manoj shared how he and Shah Rukh used to share cigarettes.

In an interview with Galatta India, Manoj recalled, “When you are in a theatre group, and someone is smoking, they would never smoke alone. No one would smoke one cigarette all by themselves because no one could afford it. So if anyone had one cigarette, they had to share it with four people.”

He further added, “Even if he had the money to buy a pack of cigarette, or buy one cigarette, he could not afford to have it alone because others have shared it with him in the past and now it is his turn to share it.” While Shah Rukh stayed in it for a short while before moving to Mumbai and starting his career in Bollywood, Manoj stayed in Barry John’s theatre group for a while. Manoj shared that he moved to Mumbai only after he worked in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen.

In an earlier interview with Galatta Plus, Manoj had shared that his first visit to a nightclub in Delhi was with Shah Rukh, “Shah Rukh was with Barry, I was with Barry, at the same time. So many friends who were there that night. I am still in touch with them, still very good friends. Shah Rukh’s life has become different from us. I still remember looking for shoes to get into the discotheque, because I was in chappals.” Manoj described the club as “dark and dingy” and added, “It was in Delhi, Maurya. Ghungroo was the name of the discotheque, if I remember correctly. Yes, Shah Rukh and Benny and Rama, these were the people who took me. That was the first time I experienced a discotheque.”

Many years later, Manoj appeared in a cameo in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Veer Zaara. Currently, Manoj’s Bhaiyya Ji directed by Apoorv Singh Karki is out in theatres.

Also Read: Manoj Bajpayee is ecstatic for Bhaiyya Ji; says, “I enjoyed playing my larger-than-life character”

from Featured Movie News | Featured Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama
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