Manoj Bajpayee Says Wife Disapproved Of The Family Man Initially, Told Him ‘Why are You Ruining…’

Manoj Bajpayee has indeed come a long way with rich content-driven films and projects to his credit. While the actor has always enjoyed a massive fan following, it was his debut web series The Family Man, which proved one of the breakthrough shows in his career. However, when Manoj was initially offered the offer, he was initially sceptical about it. In fact, even his wife Shabana had an ‘issue’ with the show and felt like he was ‘ruining’ his career.

In an interview with Indian Express, the actor revealed that it was casting director Mukesh Chhabra who called him saying that Raj and DK want to meet him to narrate a series. “I was like yaar, I have seen these web series, it’s all about sex, violence and thrill. I may not be interested. But he assured me that it’s a very different one. Also, there was news that Akshay Khanna was doing this show, and since I do not like taking other actors’ work, I said if that’s true, even if I like the project, I will not do it”.

He added, “But Mukesh was adamant that it was not the case and I went to meet them the next day. With the 20 minutes of narration they gave, I was totally sold. In that brief meeting, I could see myself becoming the character and also the kind of freedom I would get to play it the way I want to.”

Manoj continued, “They sent me two episodes, and I loved it and started making notes. I think the character notes for Srikant Tiwari were the most I have made. I would remember something, rush back to my notebook and pen it. I had even decided to not work for eight months and was working out a lot.”

The actor then revealed that his wife Shabana was disapproving of the show, since he decided to not work for 8 months and focus on The Family Man’s prep. “So now, that became an issue with my wife (actor Shabana). She thought I was doing some kind of a serial and ask me what is this OTT. I told her that it’s different and she was like, ‘What is the need of money? Why are you ruining your career?”

She asked, “Sab accha khasa chal raha hai. Sab khatam kar doge (Everything is going well, why do you want to ruin it). I told her how shows like Narcos have become popular. ‘But eventually it’s a serial only na?’ she would tell me. I think she didn’t realise the strength and potential of OTT till she saw the first season of The Family Man.”

Manoj Bajpayee recently starred in Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai. It was a legal drama backed by Suparn Verma. Suparn and Manoj together worked in The Family Man.