Manoj Bajpayee seems to be finding his comic side, initially with the award-winning show "The Family Man" and now with "Inspector Zende," in which he is an Mumbai cop who is on the trail of a high-profile gangster.
As a someone known for his serious roles, especially that of the police officials in movies such as "Shool," "Special 26," and "Bhonsle," Bajpayee states that he likes humour with a common touch.
“Before ‘The Family Man’, nobody thought that I would be humorous with a straight face. So, the straight face humour is a word that people have given to it. But I enjoy creating humour out of a situation which is real and relatable,” Bajpayee told PTI in an interview.
His role, Madhukar Zende, is based on the true-blue cop who arrested serial killer Charles Sobhraj twice. In the movie, Sobhraj has been renamed Carl Bhojraj and played by Jim Sarbh.
Bajpayee said his character's eccentricities are not planned, but happen organically from the scene.
“He’s not going out of his character. It’s about the seriousness with which he approaches the comedic moment. That really sells it and makes it work without distancing the actor from the character. That is a tricky point. (But if you) don’t attempt comedy, the humour will come out,” he added.
Bajpayee made his on-screen debut as a cop in Ramgopal Varma's "Shool" in 1999. Looking back on how far he has come since that project, he mentioned that he worked on "Shool" differently.
“‘Shool’ was about a young cop who is full of idealism about his job, and he keeps getting disillusioned by his family, society and his own department. It was a story of how he keeps losing near and dear ones when he is quite stubborn about following the rules.
“I had to immerse myself completely into the role, which resulted in me losing my balance. I realised that this is not the way I should go (about playing the character) because though it was temporary, it cost me my health, mental health,” he said.
“Inspector Zende”, directed by Chinmay Mandlekar, is the polar opposite of “Shool”, he added.
“It’s a comic take on the chase of one of the most dreaded psychopaths of this world. Charles Sobhraj is also not only a criminal and a psychopath; he has been a talk of the nation and a talk of all the international communities and law forces for many years. He was part of pop culture; he was more of a hero with intrigue for people than a criminal. Chinmay’s take is endearing, quite hilarious, so mostly we had fun. There was no scope of immersing yourself completely and losing your mind.”
Mandlekar further added that the comedy in Zende's tale comes from the incredulity of the situations and not from the character himself.
“We were very clear he is not Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther). The situation around him turns out to be humorous or ironic but he is always a hero. He was the one who was selected for this job, he did not land up catching Carl. If you ask Inspector Zende in real life about it, he says, ‘This is like one of the things that I did. He does not give much credit to this. He has done so many other things,” the director said.
It also has noted Marathi film actors such as Sachin Khedekar, Bhalchandra Kadam, Girija Oak, Onkar Raut, and Harish Dudhade in it.
Mandlekar stressed the need to cast supporting roles authentically.
“Most of the characters that you will see in the film are Marathi, they belong to a particular socio-economic background and I wanted Marathi actors to play Marathi roles, North Indian actors for Carl’s team.”
"Inspector Zende" will be streaming on Netflix from September 5.
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