Manoj Bajpai Takes The Long Route To Meet His Ailing Father

Days before Father’s Day, Manoj Bajpai hurriedly  left Mumbai for his  native village Belwa  in the Bettiah district of Bihar to meet his  ailing father.The patriarch  suddenly took ill. Setting all post-release media  interactions for The Family Man  aside, Manoj  rushed to be by his father’s side.

Manoj’s  wife and  daughter also accompanied him. The Bajpai family was  supposed to take  a flight to Gorakhpur  and then drive down to  Bettiah.

 “But we missed  our flight.So we  had  to drive down  a much longer route. Fortunately my father is  on the road to recovery.Since he is aging the  process of healing is taking longer. My brother takes good care of him. I wish  I  could be  there with him more  often,”says  the Family Man hero  currently  basking  in  the  super-success  of  the  series that has taken  the  country by storm.

In  2007  Manoj  was travelling to his village in Bihar. The state of the roads being what it is, his car plunged into a ditch. His  back took the entire impact. Manoj  couldn’t move his hand. For eight months he was in bed.

Says  Manoj,  “I  am very close to  both my  parents.They named me  after their favourite actor Manoj  Kumar. My father had to struggle  to put  my siblings and  I  through our basic education.From my childhood  I dreamt  of being an actor. My father supported me in  my dream. That’s how  a boy from  Bettiah with no  connections  in  the  film industry dared to venture into cinema.”

Though  Manoj’s father  (Radhakant Bajpai) likes Manoj’s performance in  all his  films, the senior Bajapai’s  favourites  are  Satya, Shool, Pinjar, 1971 and  yes, The  Family Man.