Manoj Bajpayee, who has had an extraordinary year, feels his best of 2024 has arrived at the end of the year. And he is right. Kanu Behl’s striking-hot new feature film Despatch features Manoj Bajpayee as an investigative journalist Joy Bag who would go to any length for a story.
Joy is a not your average film hero. He is ruthless in his self-serving zeal, as easily manipulated as he is manipulative. What sets this role really apart for Manoj is the character’s libido. He spends a lot of time having sex with multiple partners.
Joy Bag has a lovely wife (Shahana Goswami) whom he is cheating by having an affair with a junior colleague Prerna (Arrchita Agarwaal). As if that isn’t enough, he is also amorously affiliated to another sassy junior colleague Noori (Rituparna Sen). With each woman, Manoj has extended graphic sequences of lovemaking in venues such as the front seat of a car, the shower and the backseat of a car.
In one sequence, the wife Shahana Goswami seduces and tricks her husband into frantic sex, which climaxes with Manoj mumbling, “Condom condom” as his character doesn’t want what his wife wants: a baby.
Among its many virtues, Kanu Behl’s Despatch marks the sexual maturation of Hindi cinema.
When I shared my enthusiasm with the diffident Manoj Bajpayee for taking sex in Hindi cinema kicking and dragging from beating around the bush to getting down to the brass tacks, he laughed and said, “Yes, I am shy, very shy. Even a peck to show intimacy requires herculean effort. But as you saw, Despatch is not an ordinary film. The multiple sexual encounters are a part of my character’s grey personality. Joy Bag is not a routine personality. He is capable of being nasty and brutal. And that reflects in my relationship with women.”
Apparently director Kanu Behl had to persuade Manoj incessantly before he reluctantly agreed to drop his inhibitions. Manoj admitted, “Getting completely nude was especially difficult. But Kanu finally convinced me that those scenes, the nudity, kissing and the multiple making out, were part of the character. Or as they used to say in the olden days, the role demanded it.”
Manoj admits Despatch is one of the toughest parts of his career. I remind him that he said the same about earlier roles this year and earlier years. “Kya karoon? Doing straightforward black or white roles is not my scene. I like to put forward seemingly impossible challenges for myself. And you have to admit Despatch is not an easy film or character,” said Manoj.
I agree. Kanu Behl’s cinema in the past, especially the stunning Titli should have prepared Manoj Bajpayee for the challenging media hound’s role in Despatch.
The post Manoj Bajpayee on doing the lovemaking scenes in Despatch, “I am shy, very shy. Even a peck to show intimacy requires herculean effort” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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