Manoj Bajpai Biography, Wife, Family, First Movie, Movies List & More
Who is Manoj Bajpai?
Born on 23 April 1969 (Age 51 years as of 2020), Manoj Bajpai, also known as Manoj Bajpayee, is a versatile actor. He predominantly works in the Bollywood film industry. Belonging from a small village, his hard work and dedication established him as one of the finest actors in Bollywood today.
His most famous dialogues that can never be forgotten, such as –
- Mumbai ka King Kaun? Bhiku Mhatre (Satya)
- Badshah ki gali mein aake uska pata nahi poochte, ghulamo ke jhuke hue sarr khud ba khud raasta bata dete hai (Shootout at Wadala).
Table of Contents
Manoj Bajpai Biography
Early Life
Manoj Bajpai was born in a small village Belwa, Narkatiaganj, West Champaran (Bihar). He studied 10th from Khrist Raja High School, Bettiah. At The age of 17, he came to Delhi to pursue higher education and completed his 12th and graduation from Satyavati College and Ramjas College, Delhi University respectively.
He was very much influenced by Amitabh Bacchan and Naseeruddin Shah, therefore he decided to build his career in the film industry. For that, he applied to National School Drama (NSD) to pursue a career in acting but get rejected three times.
He was in depression for quite a while after consecutive rejections. Coming out of the depression he joined Berry John‘s theatre workshop. Impressed by his acting, Berry John offered him an assistant post in his acting school but his passion compelled him to reject the offer.
He then applied for the fourth time in NSD and this time he gets selected not as a student but as a teacher. After that, he moved to Mumbai to give a wing to his dream.
Breakthrough & Achievements
After struggling a lot, Manoj was cast in Drohkaal in 1994 for an uncredited small role. He then appeared in Shekhar Kapur‘s biographical drama Bandit Queen in 1994. He played the character of a decoit in it and started gaining some recognition. Bajpai has done many small roles in movies like Dastak (1996), Sanshodhan (1996), Daud (1997), Tamanna (1997), etc. He also worked for television serials like Kalakar (1994) and Swabhimaan (1995).
His first breakthrough was Ram Gopal Varma’s “Satya” in 1998 in which he played the unforgettable character of Bhiku Mahatre. His brilliant performance made him popular across the country. After this movie, he never looked back and signed many movies that won several awards and nominations.
Bajpai is the recipient of the most prestigious Padma Shri Award and also won two National Film Awards and two Asia Pacific Screen Awards for his outstanding contributions to the entertainment world.
Age, Height, Birthday, Education, Hobbies & More
| Real Name | Manoj Bajpayee, Manoj Bajpai |
| Profession | Actor |
| Zodiac Sign | Taurus |
| Date of Birth | 23 April 1969 |
| Age | 51 Years |
| Height | 5 Feet 7 Inches (170.2 cm) |
| Birth Place | Belwa, West Champaran (Bihar) |
| School | Khrist Raja High School, Bettiah |
| College/University | Ramjas College, Delhi University, National School of Drama |
| Education | Graduate in History Drama |
| Hobbies | Theatre plays |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Religion | Hinduism |
Manoj Bajpai Family
| Father |  Radhakant Bajpayee. He was a farmer. |
| Mother |  N/A She is a housewife. |
| Wife |  Shabana Raza aka Neha. Shabana is by profession an actress. She is known for movies like Kareeb, Fiza, Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet, etc |
| Children |  Ava Nayla. |
| Brother |  Sujeet Kumar Bajpayee. He is joint secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) |
| Sister |  Poonam Pandy. Poonam is a well-established fashion designer in the Bollywood film industry. |
Manoj Bajpai First Movie
| Director | Govind Nihalani |
| Cast | Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Ashish Vidyarthi, Amish Puri, Annu Kapoor, Milind Gunaji, Mita Vashisht |
| Writer | Govind Purushottam Deshpande, Anjum Rajabali, Atul Tiwari |
| Music Director | Vanraj Bhatia, Anjan Biswas, Sunil Kaushik, Taufiq Qureshi |
Bajpai made his first film debut in Govind Nihalani’s Drohkaal. He appeared in this movie for a very small and uncredited role. It is a suspense thriller movie that follows the story of an undercover agent whose job is to take down the terrorists.
Net worth, House, Salary, Cars
| Net Worth | 140 crores (INR) |
| Salary | 5 – 6 crores per movie (INR) |
| Brand Endorsement | 30 – 50 Lakhs |
| House | Flat in Oberoi Tower, Goregaon (8 crores) |
| Cars |  BMW 3 Series (41 L), Toyota Fortuner (34 L), Mahindra Scorpio (12 L) |
Favorite Things
| Actors | Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah |
| Actress | Tabu, Smita Patil |
| Movie | Gangs of Wasseypur |
| Food | Penne Pasta, Biryani |
| Director | Shekhar Kapoor, Ram Gopal Verma |
| Holiday Destination | Native place |
| Sport | Cricket |
Unknown Facts
- He was named after Manoj Kumar.
- After watching Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer, he decided to become an actor.
- Impressed by Bajpai’s performance in Bandit Queen, Ram Gopal Varma signed him for the epic movie Satya.
- He traveled from his village to Delhi by train without a ticket due to the lack of money. He hid in the bathroom to avoid the ticket collector.
- In his early days in Bollywood, he had to face a lot of criticism due to his look.
- Before entering Bollywood he was married to a Delhi girl, but when he came to Mumbai they get divorced due to long-distance relationships and going through bad times.
- After three consecutive rejections from the National School of Drama, he tried to commit suicide.
- He has won two National Film Awards for the movie Satya (1998) and Pinjar (2003) for the best supporting actor and the special jury award.
- Manoj is an inspiration to the legendary actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi.
Girlfriend / Affair
| Sabana Raza |  Manoj and Sabana met during the premiere of the film Satya and became good friends. They slowly fell in love and get married in April 2006. |
Manoj Bajpai Movies List
| Drohkaal (1994) | Director: Govind Nihalani Co-Stars: Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Ashish Vidyarthi, Amrish Puri, Annu Kapoor Writer: Govind Purushottam Deshpande |
| Bandit Queen (1994) | Director: Shekhar Kapur Co-Stars: Seema Vishwas, Nirmal Pandey, Govind Naamdev, Saurabh Shukla Writer: Ranjit Kapoor, Mala Sen |
| Dastak (1996) | Director: Mahesh Bhatt Co-Stars: Sharad Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Mukul Dev Writer: Vikram Bhatt, Sachin Bhowmick |
| Sanshodhan (1996) | Director: Govind Nihalani Co-Stars: Ashutosh Rana, Vanya Joshi, Anupam Shyam, Aditya Srivastava Writer: Tripurari Sharma, Govind Nihlani |
| Tamanna (1997) | Director: Mahesh Bhatt Co-Stars: Pooja Bhatt, Paresh Rawal, Sharad Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Zohra Sehgal Writer: Tanuja Chandra, Mahesh Bhatt |
| Daud (1997) | Director: Ram Gopal Varma Co-Stars: Sanjay Dutt, Urmila Matondkar, Paresh Rawal, Neeraj Vora, Ashish Vidyarthi Writer: Sanjay Chhel, Kannan Iyer |
| Satya (1998) | Director: Ram Gopal Varma Co-Stars: D. J. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar, Saurabh Shukla, Shefali Shah, Govind Namdev Writer: Anurag Kashyap, Saurabh Shukla, Kona Venkat |
| Kaun? (1999) | Director: Ram Gopal Varma Co-Stars: Urmila Matondkar, Sushant Kumar Writer: Anurag Kashyap |
| Shool (1999) | Director: Eeshwar Nivas Co-Stars: Raveena Tondon, Sayaji Shinde, Yashpal Sharma, Ganesh Yadav Writer: Ram Gopal Varma, Eeshwar Nivas |
| Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! (2000) | Director: Hansal Mehta Co-Stars: Tabu, Kashmira Shah, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Srivastava Writer: Saurabh Shukla, Hansal Mehta |
| Ghaath (2000) | Director: Akash Deep Co-Stars: Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Arshad Warsi Writer: Neeraj Pathak |
| Zubeidaa (2001) | Director: Shyam Benegal Co-Stars: Karishma Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Farida Jalal Writer: Khalid Mohamed |
| Aks (2003) | Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Co-Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tondon, Nandita Das Writer: Renzil D’Silva, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
| Road (2002) | Director: Rajat Mukherjee Co-Stars: Vivek Oberoi, Antra Mali, Makarand Deshpande, Sayaji Shinde Writer: Rajnish Thakur |
| Pinjar (2003) | Director: Chandraprakash Dwivedi Co-Stars: Urmila Matondkar, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sanjay Suri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Isha Koppikar Writer: Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Amrita Pritam |
| LOC Kargil (2003) | Director: J. P. Dutta Co-Stars: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, Akkineni Nagarjun, Sunil Shetty, Rani Mukerji, Raveena Tondon, Sanjay Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Ashutosh Rana, Esha Deol, Mahima Chaudhary Writer: J. P. Dutta |
| Hanan (2004) | Director: Makarand Deshpande Co-Stars: Sonali Kulkarni, Seema Biswas, Makarand Deshpande, Deepak Shirke, Sayaji Shinde Writer: Makarand Deshpande |
| Jaago (2004) | Director: Mehul Kumar Co-Stars: Raveena Tondon, Hansika Motwani, Sanjay Kapoor, Manoj Joshi Writer: K. K. Singh |
| Veer-Zaara (2004) | Director: Yash Chopra Co-Stars: Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Anupam Kher, Divya Dutta Writer: Aditya Chopra |
| Inteqam: The Perfect Game (2004) | Director: Pankuj Parashar Co-Stars: Isha Koppikar, Netra Raghuraman, Sharat Saxena Writer: Rajiv Babbar |
| Return to Rajapur (2005) | Director: Nanda Anand Co-Stars: Lynn Collins, Kelli Garner, Justin Theron Writer: Nanda Anand |
| Bewafaa (2005) | Director: Dharmesh Darshan Co-Stars: Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Kabir Bedi Writer: Raj Sinha, Dharmesh Darshan |
| Fareb (2005) | Director: Vikram Bhatt Co-Stars: Suman Ranganathan, Millind Gunaji, Faraaz Khan, Makarand Deshpande Writer: Iqbal Durrani |
| Happy (2006), Telugu | Director: A. Karunakaran Co-Stars: Genelia D’Souza, Allu Arjun, Tenikella Bharani, Venu Madhav, Rama Prava Writer: Radha Mohan |
| 1971 (2007) | Director: Amrit Sagar Co-Stars: Piyush Mishra, Ravi Kishan, Deepak Dobrial, Manav Kaul, Kumud Mishra Writer: Piyush Mishra |
| Swami (2007) | Director: Ganesh Acharya Co-Stars: Juhi Chawla, Neha Pendse, Vivek Shauk Writer: Ganesh Acharya |
| Dus Kahaniyaan (2007) | Director: Hansal Mehta, Apoorva Lakhia, Sanjay Gupta, Meghna Gulzar, Rohit Roy Co-Stars: Sanjay Dutt, Arbaaz Khan, Dia Mirza, Neha Dhupia, Dino Morea, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vivek Oberoi, Jimmy Shergill, Nana Patekar Writer: Hansal Mehta, Apoorva Lakhia, Sanjay Gupta, Meghna Gulzar, Rohit Roy |
| Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008) | Director: Ganesh Acharya Co-Stars: Govinda, Aftab Shivdasani, Hansika Motwani, Upen Patel, Celina Jaitly, Ravi Kishan, Prem Chopra Writer: Muazzam Beg |
| Jugaad (2009) | Director: Anand Kumar Co-Stars: Hrishita Bhatt, Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Raaz, Govind Anand, Nitin Arora Writer: Priyank Dubey, Bunty Rathore |
| Acid Factory (2009) | Director: Suparn Verma Co-Stars: Dia Mirza, Aftab Shivdashani, Dino Morea, Irrfan Khan, Danyy Denzongpa Writer: Milind Gadagkar |
| Jail (2009) | Director: Madhur Bhandarkar Co-Stars: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Arya Babbar, Atul Kulkarni, Rahul Singh, Navni Parihar Writer: Madhur Bhandarkar |
| Puli (2010), Telugu | Director: S. J. Surya Co-Stars: Pawan Kalyan, Nikesha Patel, Shriya Saran, Girish Karnad Writer: S. J. Surya |
| Vedam (2010), Telugu | Director: Krish Co-Stars: Allu Arjun, Anushka Shetty, Deeksha Seth, Brahmanandam, Raghu Babu Writer: Krish |
| Raajneeti (2010) | Director: Prakash Jha Co-Stars: Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Sarah Thompson, Naseeruddin Shah, Shruti Seth, Darshan Jariwala Writer: Prakash Jha |
| Dus Tola (2010) | Director: Ajay Varma Co-Stars: Aarti Chabria, Pallavi Sharda, Asrani, Govind Namdev Writer: Sunil Saigal, Raghunath Paleri |
| Aarakshan (2011) | Director: Prakash Jha Co-Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Pratiek Babbar, Tanvi Azmi, Mukesh Tiwari, Darshan Jariwala Writer: Kamalesh Pandey |
| Lanka (2011) | Director: Maqbool Khan Co-Stars: Arjan Bajwa, Tia Bajpai, Yashpal Sharma, Manish Chaudhary Writer: Shashank Dabral |
| Chittagong (2012) | Director: Bedabrata Pain Co-Stars: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkummar Rao, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vega Tamotia, Vijay Varma Writer: Bedabrata Pain, Shonali Bose |
| Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (2012) | Director: Anurag Kashyap Co-Stars: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda, Veenit Kumar Singh, Writer: Zeishan Quadri |
| Director: Co-Stars: Writer: | |
| Chakravyuh (2012) | Director: Prakash Jha Co-Stars: Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Esha Gupta, Anjali Patil, Mukesh Tiwari, Kabir Bedi Writer: Sagar Pandya, Anjum Rajabali, Prakash Jha |
| Samar (2013), Tamil | Director: Thiru Co-Stars: Sunaina, Vishal, J. D. Chakravorty, Milind Soman, Sampath Raj Writer: Thiru |
| Special 26 (2013) | Director: Neeraj Pandey Co-Stars: Akshay Kumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Neetu Singh, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Diva Dutta, Rajesh Sharma Writer: Neeraj Pandey |
| Shootout at Wadala (2013) | Director: Sanjay Gupta Co-Stars: John Abraham, Tusshar Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Anil Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Ronit Roy, Mahesh Manjrekar Writer: Hussain Zaidi, Sanjay Gupta |
| Satyagraha (2013) | Director: Prakash Jha Co-Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Amrita Rao, Mugdha Godse Writer: Anjum Rajabali, Prakash Jha |
| Anjaan (2014), Tamil | Director: N. Lingusamy Co-Stars: Suriya, Samantha Akkineni, Vidyut Jammwal, Dalip Tahil, Murali Sharma Writer: Brindha Sarathy, N. Lingusamy |
| Tevar (2015) | Director: Amit Sharma Co-Stars: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Rajesh Sharma, Raj Babbar, Gunjan Malhotra Writer: Gunasekhar, Shantanu Srivastava |
| Aligarh (2016) | Director: Hansal Mehta Co-Stars: Rajkummar Rao, Dilnaz Irani, Ashish Vidyarthi Writer: Apurva Asrani, Ishani Banerjee |
| Traffic (2016) | Director: Rajesh Pillai Co-Stars: Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta, Parambrata Chatterjee, Sachin Khedekar Writer: Bobby Sanjay |
| Budhia Singh – Born to Run (2016) | Director: Saumendra Padhi Co-Stars: Mayur Mahendra Patole, Tillotama Shome, Gajraj Rao Writer: Saumendra Padhi |
| Saat Uchakkey (2016) | Director: Sanjeev Sharma Co-Stars: Aditi Sharma, Kay Kay Menon, Vijay Raaz, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana Writer: Sanjeev Sharma |
| Naam Shabana (2017) | Director: Neeraj Pandey, Shivam Nair Co-Stars: Akshay Kumar, Taapsse Pannu, Taher Sabbir, Ali AvrRam, Anupam Kher Writer: Rajshri Sudhakar, Neeraj Pandey |
| Sarkar 3 (2017) | Director: Ram Gopal Varma Co-Stars: Amitabh Bachchan, Yami Gautam, Jackie Shroff, Amit Sadh, Ronit Roy Writer: Ramkumar Singh, Nilesh Girkar, P. Jaya Kumar |
| Rukh (2017) | Director: Atanu Mukherjee Co-Stars: Adarsh Gourav, Smita Tambe, Ahssas Tannha, Kumud Mishra Writer: Akash Mohimen, Atanu Mukherjee |
| Aiyaary (2018) | Director: Siddharth Malhotra Co-Stars: Rakul Preet Singh, Pooja Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah, Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher Writer: Neeraj Pandey |
| Baaghi 2 (2018) | Director: Ahmed Khan Co-Stars: Tiger Shroff, Disha Pat, Randeep Hooda, Prateik Babbar Writer: Abbas Dalal, Hussain Dalal |
| Missing (2018) | Director: Mukul Abhyankar Co-Stars: Tabu, Annu Kapoor, Rajesh Jais Writer: Mukul Abhyankar |
| Satyameva Jayate (2018) | Director: Milap Javeri Co-Stars: John Abraham, Nora Fatehi, Aisha Sharma, Manish Chaudhary Writer: Milap Javeri |
| Gali Guleiyan (2018) | Director: Dipesh Jain Co-Stars: Shahana Goswami, Ranbir Shorey, Neeraj Kabi Writer: Dipesh Jain |
| Love Sonia (2018) | Director: Tabrez Noorani Co-Stars: Mrunal Thakur, Freida Pinto, Richa Chadda, Anupam Kher, Rajkummar Rao, Demi Moore Writer: Ted Caplan, Alkesh Vaja |
| Bhonsle (2018) | Director: Devashish Makhija Co-Stars: Ipshita Chakraborty Singh, Abhishek Banerjee, Santosh Juvekar, Shrikant Yadav Writer: Devashish Makhija, Sharanya Rajgopal |
| Sonchiriya (2019) | Director: Abhishek Chaubey Co-Stars: Sushant Singh Rajput, Ranbir Shorey, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana Writer: Abhishek Chaubey, Sudip Sharma |
| Mrs. Serial Killer (2020) | Director: Shirish Kunder Co-Stars: Jackeline Fernandiz, Mohit Raina, Chanda Joshi, Deepak Arora Writer: Shirish Kunder |
| Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari (2020) | Director: Abhishek Sharma Co-Stars: Diljit Dosanjh, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Neha Pendse, Vijay Raaz, Annu Kapoor Writer: Shokhi Banerjee, Rohan Shankar |
Apart from the Manoj Bajpai movies list, he also appeared in Fiza (2000) as a guest. He has done four short movies namely Jai Hind (2015), Taandav (2016), Kriti (2016), and Ouch (2016). Bajpai also appeared in Amazon’s Prime web series The Family Man in 2019.
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