WHAT! Manoj Bajpayee was JEALOUS of Irrfan Khan; Actor said, “Jealousy agar honi hai toh ussey hogi jisko main..."

There is no doubt that Manoj Bajpayee is a master actor. The Satya actor claimed he was never envious of the late actor Irrfan Khan in a recent interview. Bajpayee defended himself, saying that because he knew Shah Rukh Khan from their time living in Delhi, he should have been envious of SRK rather than Irrfan. The actor said that because they came from different social circles, he didn't know Irrfan very well.

Speaking with the YouTube channel Unfiltered with Samdish, Manoj was quoted as saying, “Jealousy agar honi hai toh ussey hogi jisko main janta hu. Irrfan ko main nahi janta tha. We were in different circles.” The Family Man actor commented that the two experienced actors used to consistently compliment one other's work despite being rivals in the 1970s and 1980s when asked whether they were the Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri of this age.

Manoj even acknowledged that he was interested in taking on Irrfan's role as the title character in Vishal Bhardwaj's movie Maqbool. “Initially, Kay Kay Menon was supposed to play Maqbool. He'd even grown his hair for the part. But the film got stalled and when it was about to go on floors again, Kay Kay got busy. So I called Vishal around 21 times to cast me instead, but he was reluctant since I'd already played a gangster Bhiku Matre in Satya,” the actor revealed in the same interview.

After the success of Gangs of Wasseypur, directed by Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee gained respect in the acting world. His performances in films like Satya, Sonchiriya, Pinjar, Special 26, Aligarh, the web series 'The Family Man,' and others have made him well renowned. The Padma Shri recipient most recently appeared as a lawyer in the courtroom drama 'Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai,' which was just released.