He has garnered immense critical acclaim and bagged national award twice, but the actor Manoj Bajpayee says there was a time when he was hesitant to tell his family about his acting dreams.
"The place where I come from, acting was considered the lowest of the jobs. Till the time I took a train to Delhi, to study in Delhi University and do theatre, I didn't have the courage to tell my parents or friends that I want to become an actor," Bajpayee told reporters here.
The 'Aligarh' star was speaking at the anthem launch of his upcoming 'Budhia Singh - Born to Run.' Directed by Soumendra Padhi, it is a biopic of Budhia Singh, who ran 48 marathons when he was only five years old.
The 47-year-old actor, who was accompanied by Sunil Chettri, captain of the Indian football team, said Budhia would have been a legend by now, but it didn't happen.
"I am so proud of Chettri. I, as an Indian, want to be proud of many such talents. A child like Budhia would've been a legend by now, at the age of 14. He would've been talked about, celebrated, but this is the challenge of our county, that we couldn't even celebrate a five-year-old boy's ability," he said.
"I am not talking about his achievements, I am talking about his ability... There are too many Budhias in our country but we only want achievement, we do not want the process," Bajpayee added.
Produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Code Red Film Productions, the film also stars Tillotama Shome and Master Mayur. Bajpayee plays the role of Budhia's coach in the film which will release on August 5.