Manoj Bajpayee Happy With Joram’s Entry In Oscar Library, But Adds He Doesn’t ‘Work For Validation’ | Exclusive

Manoj Bajpayee’s passion project Joram might have failed to create ripples at the box office but it managed to impress critics across all quarters. It travelled across film festivals in different parts of the world including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sydney Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, 28th Busan International Film Festival and 59th Chicago International Film Festival. And now, in a rare feat, it has made it to the Oscar library. The Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has acquired the screenplay of Joram for its esteemed Permanent Core Collection recently.

Reacting to it for the first time, Bajpayee exclusively tells News18 Showsha, “It’s a great piece of news that has come to us and I really feel that we’ve come a full circle with this. I don’t work for validation. I work because this is what I wanted to do and this is what I’m passionate about.”

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Bajpayee was involved with Joram right from its nascent stage. He was instrumental in taking it to producers and getting it released in India. So, does that make this achievement even more special? “I personally am more excited and more into my element when I’m in the process of making a film and being part of it more than its outcome. So, that way, I want people to like it,” says the actor, who was recently seen in Killer Soup.

However, he’s quick to add that this honour hasn’t made him less critical of his own work in Joram. When prodded, he tells us, “At the end of the day, you’re the best and the biggest critic of yourself. It’s only me who knows how much I could achieve and how much I just left out, how much I missed and how much I lacked in a few places, and that’s a continuous process. And this is what I feel so great about, that I’m exploring and evolving, improving all the time.”

Nevertheless, he’s happy with how Joram turned out to be and he credits the entire unit of the film for the same. “I feel that Joram is a film which has been made so beautifully not only by the director but also by each and every department. They’ve put their best foot forward,” he states.

And while he’s elated with the global attention the film and his nuanced act in it has received, he’s in no rush to foray into the West. “Joram has gotten such a huge international exposure and I’m always open to working in different languages – languages that I can speak or understand and English is definitely one of them. I’m always open and I keep getting offers here and there but nothing to write home about. When it will happen, it will happen,” he says.

Joram is directed by Devashish Makhija and also stars Tannishtha Chatterjee, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Smita Tambe. Themed on pertinent issues like man vs nature, home and displacement, it released theatrically on December 8, 2023.