Despatch, a crime thriller helmed by actor Manoj Bajpayee will soon stream on ZEE5. The trailer which dropped two days back offers nothing short of a gripping, edge-of-the-seat drama that will give us much to talk about for days after.
Directed by Kanu Behl, Despatch is about a no-nonsense, crime journalist's perilous journey to uncover the sinister 2G spectrum scam, despite the risk to his life and family. Navigating through a maze of corruption and power battles, the film is about how the protagonist goes all out to expose the maximum city's dark underbelly which is fed on the thick but dangerous nexus between filmstars, politicians and those in positions of authority. In the role of a true blue journalist, Bajpayee is flawless.
His previous works stand testament to his immense prowess as an actor who can keep you hooked to the screen, effortlessly. In a previous interview with THE WEEK, ahead of the release of his immensely popular Zee5 offering, Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, based on the role played by an advocate in bagging conviction of Asaram Bapu in a rape case, Bajpayee for the first time, acknowledged that he had found contentment with the way his acting career's shaping up.
"With age comes a certain fearlessness to essay any role,” he says. “I am feeling so blessed. I am a better actor now," he had said. Almost two and a half decades ago, Bajpayee had decided that he "wouldn't ever settle as an actor”. The year was 1998; Satya was released to rave reviews and unprecedented box-office success, and Bajpayee had become an overnight sensation.
At the time, the Khans were ruling the industry and Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar were making their mark. There was definitely no place for an outsider, not for an average Joe, anyway. And Bajpayee was a National School of Drama reject, a theatre veteran from Bihar with dreams of making it as an actor. Nobody had imagined that Bhiku Mhatre, Bajpayee's character from Satya, would become so popular and even win a national award. However, it brought him a flood of negative characters. But he was against being typecast as a "villain". The son of a farmer, who was staying in a rented flat in Mumbai, was bold enough to reject multiple offers, and the big money that came with it.
Then on, Bajpayee had made a mental note of the kind of roles he would say yes to: “Those which bring out both the positive and the negative sides of human character." The goal was to highlight the multilayered greyscale that is present in each one of us, from the gentlest civilian to the hardened criminal. Bajpayee followed the brief decade after decade, immortalising each character with his nuanced and expressive portrayal.
From Raghavan in Aks (2001), who had a twisted philosophical reasoning of life even when he was the embodiment of evil, to the heinous politician Veerendra Pratap in Raajneeti (2010), Bajpayee made the audience fall in love with his characters for their style, quirks and idiosyncrasies. Along came a few roles with an underlying social message such as Hansal Mehta's Aligarh, a hard-hitting film on gay rights. Credited with three national awards–Satya (1998), Pinjar (2003) and Bhonsle (2018)– and more than 60 critically acclaimed films, Bajpayee has aced the art of selecting films and never doing a role for the "heck of it”.
While last year was terrific for the actor with some very powerful releases including Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Gulmohar, and Joram, this year has also been equally promising with popular releases including Bhaiyaji, Silence 2 and now, Despatch.
The ace actor has now reached a space where the bigwigs of Bollywood like Neeraj Pandey and Anurag Kashyap are keen to work with him. It remains to be seen if with Despatch, his filmography continues to soar...
The film premieres on the platform on December 13.