National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee's life is no less than a Bollywood film itself. It is an inspiring tale of a simple boy hailing from Bihar who makes it big in the entertainment industry and becomes one of the sought after faces in the world of acting. But do you know Manoj Bajpayee wasn't fond of his name? In fact, on multiple occasions, he wanted to change it.
Journalist Piyush Pandey, in his biography of Manoj Bajpayee titled ‘Kuch Paane Ki Zid’, has shared how Manoj Bajpayee got his name and why he wanted to change it. The actor's father, RK Bajpayee told Pandey that he named his son after veteran actor Manoj Kumar.
However, the actor wasn't fond of his name. In his book, Pandey mentioned an incident when the actor opened up about it. "Manoj is a very common name in Bihar," the Satya actor said adding, "'Manoj tyrewala, Manoj bhujiyawala, Manoj meatwala and many more Manojs you'll find there. I thought I'll change my name. I even thought of a new one. It was 'Samar'. During my theatre days, when I wanted to change it I was told that I need to get an affidavit, print an ad in the newspaper among many other legal procedures. I had no money at that time and hence I couldn't. I thought I can do it when I start earning."
"Later when Bandit Queen was released, I again thought of changing it, but my brother came to me and said 'audience will see Manoj Bajpayee in the first film and then something else?' Hearing him I thought 'ab jo boss ho gaya, vo gaya."
Interestingly, veteran actor Manoj Kumar, who inspired Bajapayee's father had a filmy story behind his name as well. His real name was Harikishan Giri Goswami. He decided to name himself Manoj Kumar, after Dilip Kumar's character in Shabnam (1949).
