Bhojpuri: Manoj Tiger said that it is my dream to see my name on this award.

Bhojpuri: Manoj Tiger, the popular face of Bhojpuri films, has been active in the industry for the past 28 years. After a long struggle of ten years, he got a special recognition for the Bhojpuri film Nirahua Rickshawala, after which he did not look back. Though he stayed in Mumbai till then, he did all the small and big tasks for himself, but he never took the struggle as a fight because since childhood he had seen his father struggle at home. Highlights from the conversation with Urmila Kori

I had decided to act while doing Ramlila.
The journey so far has been going well. I have never taken wrestling as a struggle. Since childhood, I saw my family members struggling. I also saw my father. I come from a family where everyone was struggling. My father is a poet, I inherited the talent to write from him, but it had nothing to do with cinema since I gained consciousness. Ramlila used to take place in our house. I used to be a part of Ramlila. When I was 12 or 13, it occurred to me that I wanted to be an actor. I used to play the character of Sumanth in Ramleela. He was the commander of Dasharatha. There was an old character while I would have been barely 16 or 17 at that time. This means that since my childhood, I didn’t think that I was destined to be a hero, I wanted to play a character. Pankaj Kapoor, Paresh Rawal influenced me a lot.

He failed high school twice but passed first class the third time.
I was good in studies but I was not good at studying. I failed twice in high school. In the third year I passed in first class, appeared in Intermediate and then after Intermediate I went to Allahabad University. My father’s thinking was different and he never imposed it. He clearly said that whatever you want to do is your choice but at the same time he didn’t even say that if you know our situation then you won’t be able to get any financial help. It’s up to you to do it. I understood this because we had a big family. There were grandparents. There was mom, dad and brothers and sisters. Dad didn’t have that much money. I had to make the decision and I made the decision. After graduating from Allahabad, I came to Mumbai. To a friend of my grandfather. I came to Mumbai in 1996 and then stayed here.

She has faced a lot of ridicule regarding her personality and appearance.
I would like to say that I initially came to Mumbai not to become an actor but to do some work. The reason for this was that I had heard a lot of bad things from people about my personality and my looks. Your height is very short. You will not be able to do anything. A lot of people come running but they cannot do anything because I had not done any theatre apart from Ramlila. I have not learnt acting, I don’t even have looks, so I was very hesitant to tell people that I want to become an actor. I thought I should first do something and then settle down here. I will see again. Coincidentally, M Tripathi used to visit the house where I lived, he was associated with the film line. He used to work as a PRO. I met him and he introduced me to Surendra Gupta ji. His film magazine was there. He wanted to start his own film production. I joined there as a clerk. Lekh Tandon Sahab was the director whom I used to assist. Over time, I became a production manager. I went ahead and quit his job after a few years and got involved in drama.

In addition to acting, he also did odd jobs.
Prithvi started watching drama in the theatre. I won’t be able to eat food. Where will I sleep? I didn’t care about any of this. They say that when you set out on a journey, people start finding you and a caravan starts forming. The same thing happened to me too. I met a lot of people. I found someone who was hungry. I found someone with money. Sometimes someone would feed me and sometimes someone would make me sleep in their house. When nothing happened, I did a little night job. I had no problem doing small jobs because I had to do theatre during the day. Four years went by doing all this. People wondered what I was doing, but I felt that something would come out of it. In Mumbai, one can fill one’s stomach by doing small jobs, but it was difficult to get a roof over one’s head for so little money. I wasn’t there. Surendra Gupta ji again helped. He said that you should stay in my office till arrangements are made for your stay. After that I did a lot of drama. I also started writing plays and directing them. There were plays at the Prithvi Theatre. You could perform a 30-minute play two days a week outside the auditorium. I was tested and auditioned and my play was selected. She also got connected with Pandit Satyadev Dubey. She joined his workshop. She learnt from him and formed a great theatre group.

He became a part of the crowd in Hindi movies.
During that time, actress Ayesha Julka had come to see one of my plays. She liked my play so much that she invited me to her house the next day. She then produced a play Kabhi Luck Kabhi Chance. He cast me in that play. Her present husband had directed a play. From there I had a good relationship with him. He also started his own acting academy. He spent a lot of money on me. Till 2005, I did a lot of drama and also did small roles in some films. When I used to go to the production house, I would come back the next day and make him stand in the crowd. I used to give Rs 200 or Rs 500. That money was negligible and the recognition from those films was also negligible. After that, I decided that I would do it only if I got a leading man, whether it was a comedian or a villain, because I couldn’t get a leading man.

That’s how Tiger was added to his name.
I used to study in Allahabad University so there is a big problem in using surnames there. Arvind Singh Gopu, so-and-so Singh Deepu. While I was studying there, I was also a little interested in politics. Because of this, whenever I was called on stage, I would just add Manoj Tiger to my name. After coming to Mumbai, I removed Tiger from my name. When I was not finding a job in Mumbai, Manoj Ojha ji took me to an astrologer. He said change the name. He said Manoj Kumar should do it. Manoj, do this, I said how will Manoj Tiger be. He said this is perfect, so from there I became his home forever.

While he was giving acting training to Nirahua, his partner became an actor.
I knew Manoj Ojha many years ago from theatre. I was doing the film Chalat Musafir Moh Leo with Dinesh Lal Nirahua. Manoj is my friend, he told me to write this film and also give acting training to Nirahua. I started meeting Nirahua ji, then we became friends. He said that a comedian has an important role in the film. You can do it, but the producer said no, I have taken someone else. Manoj Ojha clearly said that I will direct the film only if Manoj Tiger plays this role. Otherwise, I will leave the film. Everyone noticed me in that film and everyone liked Nirahua and my partner. We did another film, Nirahua Rickshawala. That film made both of us stars. After that I never looked back and now I have done more than 350 films.

I have also been doing Hindi and Southern cinema since 2019.
While doing Bhojpuri, a thought came to my mind that we have come to make Hindi films, so we took a 180-degree turn again. From 2019, I started theatre again. Along with Bhojpuri, I also started doing Hindi projects. I have done a Telugu film Nonviolence as the main villain. That film was released both in theatres and on Amazon Prime. Rana Daggubati’s younger brother has been introduced as a hero. I would like to share that I did dubbing for that Telugu film as well. He called me after watching my Bhojpuri films on YouTube. The BBC praised me for my performance in the film. It was a very special moment for me. I have a web series coming out in January, Do Pahiya, in which I am also one of the important leads. Gajraj Rao, Yashpal Sharma and Renuka Shahane are with me in this.

Bhojpuri cinema will also break the existing image of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
In today’s era, Bhojpuri films are released on television. I would say this era is a good one. After the arrival of films on television, Bhojpuri cinema was tainted because there is only obscenity here. That taint has now vanished. There is no vulgarity or filth in Bhojpuri cinema now. I think there will be many more Saas-Bahu films. I am sure that by breaking this too, Bhojpuri cinema will move forward and platforms will come. OTT will come. Cinema will only progress.

The dream is to win the National Prize
As an actor, I wish to win one or two Filmfares and a National Award. I want to see my name on the National Award. Hopefully, I will fulfil one of my wishes in the next 5 years. I am also working harder for this.