Manoj Bajpayee draws a parallel between two of his Inspector roles ahead of the release of Inspector Zende

With only a handful days left for Manoj Bajpayee and Jim Sarbh to be seen on-screen, Bajpayee who plays a cop in Inspector Zende opens up about his portrayal of inspectors in two very different stages of his acting career.

Manoj Bajpayee describe two of his Inspector characters on screen

Manoj Bajpayee would soon be seen in Inspector Zende as a cop trying to catch a notorious criminal in Mumbai. The film is based on Charles Sobhraj who has been renamed as Carl Bhojraj essayed by Jim Sarbh; and Bajpayee steps in the role of Madhukar Zende.

Fans of Manoj Bajpayee would remember that the versatile actor has, over the years stepped in the role of many a cop character, each different from the other in objective and personality. From Shool to Special 26 and Bhonsle, he has done them all and with great elan. Ahead of the release of his newest cop character, he goes down the memory lane revisiting his first appearance on screen as an Inspector in Ram Gopal Verma’s Shool in 1999.

The actor recalls, "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”.

However, Inspector Zende by Chinmay Mandlekar is different and it holds traces of comedy in seriousness, worlds apart from his character in Shool. He continues, “It's a comic take on the chase of one of the most dreaded psychopaths of this world. Charles Sobhraj is not only a criminal and a psychopath, but also has been a talk of the nation, 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.”

He also goes on to describe when you stop putting conscious effort to do comedy, the timing, effect and result seems more natural, attractive and alluring than rehearsed comedy.

Inspector Zende drops on September 5 on Netflix.

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