My relationship with NSD like Dronacharya and Eklavya: Manoj Bajpayee

After being rejected four times by the National School of Drama (NSD), Manoj Bajpayee says he developed a Dronacharya-Eklavya relationship with the premier acting institute because he considered it an absentee mentor that shaped his success.

A monthly stipend of Rs 2,500, a roof over his head, free food from canteen and being surrounded by the best in the world of acting, as a 22-year-old, there was no better place than NSD, the “Satya” actor said.

But it was not to be despite four attempts.

“My relationship with NSD is very much like what Eklavya had with Guru Dronacharya. That they didn’t ask for my thumb is a different matter. They have rather welcomed me. They call me to hold workshops with the students. There is mutual respect. The National School of Drama is among the best institutions in the world,” Bajpayee said in an interview.

According to the actor, who started in theatre before going on to become a big name in arthouse and mainstream movies, institutes such as NSD, Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India and Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute are world class institutes.

“I don’t understand why they don’t get their due,” he said.

He said he never complained about NSD’s rejection even when it happened the first time.

“On the contrary, I thought I wasn’t good enough and had many flaws, because NSD can never go wrong,” he said.

But the first time he failed, it really broke him. Bajpayee, who was then studying in Delhi University, said he shut himself in his rented room in Mukherjee Nagar. His friends intervened and helped him come out of his shock.

“It was a bad time in my life where I was absolutely clueless about what to do next. My first aim was to enter NSD. That I’ll work with the best of the best in India for three years, I’ll be in the campus all of 24 hours. Where I didn’t have to think about food, lodgings. I’ll get a scholarship, I think at the time it used to be around Rs 2,500. I’ve heard it is Rs 15,000 today.”

The actor, known for hits such as “Satya”, “Shool”, “Zubeida”, “Gangs of Wasseypur”, “Aligarh” and the OTT series “The Family Man”, said the other three attempts he made to enter the institute “didn’t shake him up” the way it did the first time.

He had gradually found a “foothold” through plays held at Mandi House, the nerve centre of Delhi’s theatre scene at the time, over the years.

“I only did theatre all day long for three years. I can confidently say I used to work 18 hours a day. I remember I had malaria, I was so belligerent and passionate to learn this craft that I went to the rehearsal despite being down with malaria. I fainted near a tea store outside Hindu College.

“I woke up after some students there sprinkled some water on my face… I was working so hard, there was a drive to learn, there was a lot of passion for this work. I didn’t lose any time,” he said.

The dream to get into the premier Delhi institute of performing arts probably took shape when he was in high school and read about the many stalwarts who had studied at NSD, Bajpayee said, recalling how this dream inspired him to leave his village and land in Delhi.

“I wanted to get into acting right from childhood. My parents used to take us to the theatre to watch films. As I would watch films, I started feeling that I don’t want to do anything else other than this (acting).

“At the time, I think I was in Class 5 or 6. I started taking part in elocution contests. I developed a special love for poems. I loved reciting poems because such activities didn’t often take place in small towns. Elocution contests in school would be a big deal and it used to be organised biannually.”

He said he found it easy to excel in these competitions because of his love for “poems and languages”.

The Delhi years were challenging though he does not like to call them a “struggle”. Instead, he sees those days as the period that shaped who he would become later.

“Hunger is a big thing when you come from an ordinary family. You depend a lot on your friends and they hold your hand and travel the way with you. I borrowed shoes, chappals and they would also share their clothes with me.  I was doing all this but in that age, you don’t think much about it. You don’t think that you are going through some trouble because age is on your side,” the actor said.

“You have a life to live. So I was enjoying that phase. If I didn’t have money to buy a bus ticket, then I would go to Yamuna Vihar on foot. And I would learn my lines from the play during that journey. And if I would get tired, I would stop at Chandni Chowk or ISBT,” he said, describing his hangout places in old and north Delhi around Delhi University.

Eklavya, a character from the Indian epic Mahabharata, made a statue of Dronacharya after the guru declined to train him in archery. Drona, who found Eklavya’s skills better than his own students, realised that his promise to make Arjuna the greatest archer in the world won’t be possible with Eklavya. He asked Eklavya for his right thumb as ‘guru dakshina’ and Eklavya happily complied.