Manoj Bajpayee is one of the most skilled actors in the industry today and he has delivered amazing performances in films like 'Satya', 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' etc in his long and illustrious career. The actor belong to a small village in Bihar and his introduction to acting was quite a challenging one. In a recent media interaction, Manoj recalled that acting wasn't considered a decent profession in his family and that he had to sneak out to watch dramas and dance programs.

In a conversation with actor Sayaji Shinde, the actor stated, "We used to have the Ram Leela in our village, and the part of Bihar that I’m from, acting was not a very respectable profession back then. They used to call it ‘bhaand’.”

He further added, “I couldn’t even say that I wanted to become an actor. I couldn’t do plays after school, couldn’t do the Ram Leela. My family was so conservative, I was once trying to whistle, and my uncle came and whacked me from behind. I couldn’t be myself. I had to sneak around to even watch plays.” The actor further added “We have this artform called ‘naach’, in which a man performs as a woman, because women weren’t allowed to perform. But the men who’d do naach were considered effeminate, or gay. They called it ‘launda naach’. I used to sneak out to watch it.”

Bajpayee concluded by saying, "The kind of nauch performances that I used to watch secretly as a child, afraid that I’d get caught, I got fame and confidence thanks to that art form.”