Nobody thought I could be humorous with a straight face before ‘The Family Man’: Manoj Bajpayee

Manoj Bajpayee stars as quirky Mumbai cop Madhukar Zende in the crime-comedy *Inspector Zende*, inspired by the real-life officer who nabbed Charles Sobhraj. Directed by Chinmay Mandlekar, the Netflix film blends realism with humor and debuts on September 5

Mumbai: Manoj Bajpayee seems to have found his funny bone, first with his critically-acclaimed series “The Family Man” and now as a Mumbai cop hot on the heels of a notorious criminal in “Inspector Zende”.

Bajpayee, whose name is often associated with intense roles, especially when it comes to cops thanks to his portrayals in “Shool”, “Special 26” and “Bhonsle”, says he loves humour that’s relatable.

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“Before ‘The Family Man’, nobody thought that I would be humorous with a straight face. So, the straight face humour is a word that people have given to it. But I enjoy creating humour out of a situation which is real and relatable,” Bajpayee told PTI in an interview.

His character of Madhukar Zende is inspired by a real life cop who caught notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj twice. In the movie, Sobhraj is called Carl Bhojraj and portrayed by Jim Sarbh.

Bajpayee said his character in the movie is quirky but not by design, the quirk comes from the overall scene.

“He’s not going out of his character. It’s about the seriousness with which he approaches the comedic moment. That really sells it and makes it work without distancing the actor from the character. That is a tricky point. (But if you) don’t attempt comedy, the humour will come out,” he added.

Ramgopal Varma’s 1999 film “Shool” was the first time Bajpayee played a cop on screen. Asked how he has changed between his first titular cop role to his latest, Bajpayee said he was a different actor when he did “Shool”.

“‘Shool’ was about a young cop who is full of idealism about his job, and he keeps getting disillusioned by his family, society and his own department. It was a story of how he keeps losing near and dear ones when he is quite stubborn about following the rules.

“I had to immerse myself completely into the role, which resulted in me losing my  balance. I realised that this is not the way I should go (about playing the character) because though it was temporary, it cost me my health, mental health,” he said.

“Inspector Zende”, directed by Chinmay Mandlekar, is the polar opposite of “Shool”, he added.

“It’s a comic take on the chase of one of the most dreaded psychopaths of this world. Charles Sobhraj is also not only a criminal and a psychopath; he has been a talk of the nation and a talk of all the international communities and law forces for many years. He was part of pop culture; he was more of a hero with intrigue for people than a criminal. Chinmay’s take is endearing, quite hilarious, so mostly we had fun. There was no scope of immersing yourself completely and losing your mind.”

Mandlekar said that the humor in Zende’s world emerges from the absurdity of his circumstances, rather than from the character himself

“We were very clear he is not Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther). The situation around him turns out to be humorous or ironic but he is always a hero. He was the one who was selected for this job, he did not land up catching Carl. If you ask Inspector Zende in real life about it, he says, ‘This is like one of the things that I did. He does not give much credit to this. He has done so many other things,” the director said.

“Inspector Zende” features acclaimed actors from the Marathi film industry like Sachin Khedekar, Bhalchandra Kadam, Girija Oak, Onkar Raut, and Harish Dudhade among others.

Mandlekar said he wanted to remain authentic in terms of casting the supporting actors.

“Most of the characters that you will see in the film are Marathi, they belong to a particular socio-economic background and I wanted Marathi actors to play Marathi roles, North Indian actors for Carl’s team.”

The film will debut on Netflix on September 5.