Manoj Bajpayee’s casting as a Rajput royal in Zubeidaa was a rare act of subversion

Up until Zubeidaa, Bajpayee was best known for playing the heartland hero in crime dramas. It takes a maverick filmmaker like Benegal to see in Satya’s Bhiku Mhatre his highness Vijendra Singh. No one else could have thought that an actor from an obscure village in Bihar could play the Maharaja of Fatehpur with such grace. No one else has. Till date. Even 21 years after Zubeidaa.

Bajpayee’s casting in the film was also interesting because Benegal had paired him opposite Karisma Kapoor, a celebrated beauty from mainstream Hindi cinema. In bringing them together as romantic leads, Benegal blurred several boundaries as only he could. Vijendra Singh didn’t require an actor of Bajpayee’s specific physicality or caliber. Benegal could have easily cast anyone else for the role, probably a stunning star, like Kapoor herself. But he didn’t. And that made all the difference.

On his decision to rope in Bajpayee, Benegal told Cinestaan last year, “He is a trained and wonderful actor. He came with a lot of experience. It was actually a pleasure working with him. I think in terms of casting, it was perfect.”

The veteran filmmaker added, “The important thing was that this was the first time he played a person of a different class. His work till that time was mostly related to people from the working class. He had become quite well known for that. But here he was playing someone with a princely background. He, in fact, was a bit doubtful whether he should accept this. He wasn’t 100 percent sure, but he gave such an outstanding performance, very restrained and cultured.”

Bajpayee also remarked on Zubeidaa’s casting coup. In a 2019 interview, he told Pinkvilla, “When (Benegal) approached me for the role, everyone doubted his decision of casting me as a prince. However, people's doubts and fears went into (thin) air when they saw the film.”

The socio-economic background of actors in real life plays a huge role in deciding the parts they get on screen. How many times have you seen a Nawazuddin Siddiqui or a Pankaj Tripathi (both of whom, much like Bajpayee, come from nondescript heartland villages) play a wealthy, urban man in a mainstream Hindi film? Or a Ranbir Kapoor, a Kareena Kapoor Khan, or a Sonam Kapoor (quintessential Bollywood from Bombay) play a poor, rural person? Sure, they should look the character. But does Alia Bhatt look anything like the Bihari migrant worker she played in Abhishek Chaubey’s 2016 social drama Udta Punjab? Or does Hrithik Roshan resemble Anand Kumar, who he played in the educationist’s 2019 biopic Super 30?

It’s not uncommon for stars to play the underprivileged or the downtrodden on screen. They do, every now and then—have been doing it for decades—whenever they want to prove that they, too, can act. And they make sure their “act of subversion” is seen and praised. Remember how Zoya Akhtar’s 2019 film Gully Boy swept every award there was?

However, even 21 years later, it’s still as rare to see an actor like Bajpayee be a king on screen as it was in 2001. This is when he is an upper-caste Hindu. What, then, are the chances of someone from a marginalized caste or religious and other minorities getting a lead role in a Bollywood movie or playing a king in one?