1994–2001: Debut and breakthrough Following his one-minute role in
Govind Nihalani's
Drohkaal (1994), Bajpai was considered for the role of dacoit Vikram Mallah in the film, which eventually went to
Nirmal Pandey. He agreed to do the serial at a low fee. Next, Bajpayee appeared in minor roles in films such as
Dastak (1996) and
Tamanna (1997). Director
Ram Gopal Varma discovered Bajpayee when he was casting for
Daud (1997), a comedy film, where he had a supporting role. Following completion of the filming, Varma expressed his regret for offering Bajpayee a minor role. He then promised Bajpayee a prominent role in his next film.
Satya was mostly shot in the real slums of Mumbai.
Anupama Chopra called Bajpayee and others' performances "[..] so good that you can almost smell the Mumbai grime on their sweaty bodies."
Filmfare later included his performance in the 2010 issue of Bollywood's "Top 80 Iconic Performances". Bajpayee then collaborated with Verma in the year 1999 with
Kaun? and
Shool; with Verma directing the former and producing the latter.
Kaun, was a
whodunit with only three characters in a house, where Bajpayee played an annoying talkative stranger. The film was a
box office disappointment.
Shool saw him play the role of an honest police officer who finds himself in the politician-criminal nexus of the
Motihari district in Bihar.
Sify labelled Bajpayee's performance in the film as "truly amazing [..] especially the emotional scenes with
Raveena Tandon." The film won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, with Bajpayee winning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. He also acted in the Telugu romantic film
Prema Katha (1999). The year 2000 started for Bajpayee with the comedy
Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! and the crime drama
Ghaath, both alongside
Tabu. A dialogue from the former sparked controversy in some political parties. Bajpayee's first release in 2001 was
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's supernatural thriller
Aks. His negative portrayal of Raghavan Ghatge, a criminal who dies and is reincarnated in the body of Manu Verma (played by
Amitabh Bachchan), garnered him the
Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination.
2002–09: Career struggle Bajpayee's sole release of 2002 was the
road thriller
Road. He played the antagonist in the film, a hitchhiker who turns out to be a psychopathic killer, after taking a lift from a couple (played by
Vivek Oberoi and
Antara Mali). Bajpayee received another Filmfare nomination for Best Performance in a Negative Role, for the film. He received the
National Film Special Jury Award for his performance in the film. He subsequently portrayed
Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav in
J. P. Dutta's ensemble
war film LOC: Kargil. It was based on the
Kargil War, and Bajpayee was nominated for the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for it. Bajpayee's next roles were in
Jaago (2004) opposite Raveena Tandon,
Makarand Deshpande's
Hanan and the thriller
Inteqam. In
Jaago, he played a police officer who takes the situation into his own hands, after his 10-year-old daughter is raped and killed. The same year, he appeared in a supporting role in
Yash Chopra's romantic drama
Veer-Zaara (2004). The film was screened at the
55th Berlin Film Festival, and grossed over globally, becoming
the highest-grossing film of the year. In 2005, Bajpayee acted in
Dharmesh Darshan's drama
Bewafaa, the thriller
Fareb, and the English language film
Return to Rajapur. He also acted in the Telugu romance
Happy (2006). In 2007, Bajpayee played Major Suraj Singh in
1971. The film tells the story of six
Indian army soldiers, who escape from the Pakistani prison after they were captured during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Rajeev Masand of
CNN-IBN, criticised the film but wrote: "[Bajpayee] is in great form, he holds back mostly and in the process, constructs a character that says more with his eyes than with words." He next starred opposite
Juhi Chawla in
Ganesh Acharya's drama film
Swami. Bajpayee's final release of the year was the
anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan. He acted in the
Sanjay Gupta – directed story
Zahir alongside
Dia Mirza. All of his 2007 releases were financial failures. Next year, he starred in the ensemble comedy
Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008), which was also a box office disaster. He then returned in a major role with the comedy
Jugaad (2009), which was based on the
2006 Delhi sealing drive incident. His next release was the mystery thriller
Acid Factory (2009), which was a remake of the 2006 American film
Unknown. He played a comic role of one among the people who are kidnapped and locked in a factory with no memory of how they came there. The film did not do well at the box office. The string of financial failures continued with his next release. In
Madhur Bhandarkar's
Jail (2009), he played a convict serving life imprisonment. He called his role a "narrator" and "mentor" of its protagonist (played by
Neil Nitin Mukesh).
2010–present: Raajneeti and beyond In 2010, Bajpayee starred in
Prakash Jha's big-budget ensemble political thriller
Raajneeti.
Nikhat Kazmi of
The Times of India in her review mentioned that Bajpayee "[..] grab[s] eyeballs in [his] scenes" and "brings back memories of his mesmeric performances." Indian trade journalists were apprehensive of
Raajneeti recovering its investment. The film, however, proved to be a major commercial success, with worldwide earnings of over . He then acted in two Telugu films;
Vedam (2010) and
Puli (2010), followed by the comedy
Dus Tola (2010). He also provided the voice of
Rama in the animated film
Ramayana: The Epic, which was based on the Indian epic
Ramayana. '' in 2011
Aarakshan (2011), a socio-drama based on the issue of
caste based reservations in Indian, was Bajpayee's next film. The film sparked controversy in some groups and was banned in
Uttar Pradesh,
Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh before its theatrical release. Trade journalists had high expectations for the film, but it ultimately flopped at the box office. Bajpayee's followup was the thriller
Lanka (2011). In 2012, Bajpayee appeared in
Anurag Kashyap's two-part crime film
Gangs of Wasseypur. His character Sardar Khan appeared in the first one. To prepare for his role, Bajpayee shaved his head and lost four kilogram of weight. It premiered at the
2012 Cannes Film Festival,
Toronto film festival, and the
Sundance Film Festival in 2013.
Gangs of Wasseypur released in India on 22 June to positive response. Anupama Chopra called it his best performance since Bhiku Mhatre in
Satya. For his performance in the film, Bajpayee was nominated for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actor. His next film was the historical drama
Chittagong (2012), based on the
Chittagong armoury raid. Bajpai portrayed the Bengali independence fighter
Surya Sen in it, for which he charged no money. His final release of the year was
Chakravyuh, where he played a
Naxalite; a role which required him to lose 5 kilograms weight. Writer and lyricist
Javed Akhtar called
Chakravyuh "the best film of last 20 years". On the contrary, a review carried by
India Today called it an "amateurish attempt", but praised Bajpayee's acting. In 2013, Bajpayee had five releases:
Samar, his
Tamil debut film, was the first release. He appeared in a supporting role in the film. He then appeared in
Neeraj Pandey's heist thriller
Special 26. Based on the
1987 Opera House heist, he portrayed a
CBI officer in the film. It was followed by the crime film
Shootout at Wadala, where he played a character inspired by the gangster
Shabir Ibrahim Kaskar. Bajpayee collaborated with Prakash Jha for the fourth time with
Satyagraha. The film was loosely inspired by social activist
Anna Hazare's
fight against corruption in 2011, featuring an ensemble cast, the film was highly anticipated by trade journalists due to its release coinciding with the
Mumbai and
Delhi gang rape public protests.
Satyagraha earned domestically. Bajpayee then provided the voice of
Yudhishthira for
Mahabharat, a
3D animation film based on the Indian epic of the same name. In 2014, Bajpayee played the antagonist in the
Tamil action film
Anjaan. Bajpayee continued to play negative roles with his next film
Tevar (2015). A remake of the 2003
Telugu film
Okkadu, the film opened to negative reviews and was a box office failure. The same year, he along with Raveena Tandon, appeared in the patriotic-themed short film
Jai Hind. With a run-time of 6 minutes, the film was released on YouTube by
OYO Rooms, right before the
Indian Independence Day. Bajpayee acted in another short film titled
Taandav in 2016. Directed by
Devashish Makhija, the film showcased the pressure and scenarios faced by an honest police constable, and was released on YouTube. The same year, he portrayed professor
Ramchandra Siras, in Hansal Mehta's biographical drama
Aligarh. The story followed the life of a homosexual professor who was expelled from
Aligarh Muslim University because of his sexuality. Bajpayee watched a few clippings of Siras to prepare for his role. The film was screened at the
20th Busan International Film Festival, and the 2015
Mumbai Film Festival.
Aligarh was released on 26 February 2016 to positive reviews. Bajpayee won the Best Actor award at the 10th
Asia Pacific Screen Awards and his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. He next played a traffic constable in
Rajesh Pillai's
swan song Traffic (2016). A remake of the
Malayalam film of the same name, the film was released on 6 May 2016. His subsequent release of the year was the biographical sports film
Budhia Singh – Born to Run, where he played the coach of
Budhia Singh; the world's youngest marathon runner. It was followed by the comedy film
Saat Uchakkey (2016) and the short film
Ouch directed by Neeraj Pandey. The same year, he reunited with Ram Gopal Varma for the crime drama
Sarkar 3. It was the third instalment in the
Sarkar film series. In the film, his character was loosely based on
Arvind Kejriwal. Later that year, Bajpayee appeared briefly in the drama film
Rukh. In 2018, Bajpayee reunited with Neeraj Pandey with the crime thriller
Aiyaary, where he played Colonel Abhay Singh who is in pursuit of his protege Major Jai Bakshi (
Sidharth Malhotra). Film critic
Namrata Joshi criticised the film's plot and called Bajpayee and one song, the "film's only saving graces". He later appeared in
Ahmed Khan's
Baaghi 2, alongside
Tiger Shroff and
Disha Patani. Later that year, Bajpayee acted and made his debut as a producer with the psychological thriller
Missing, co-starring
Tabu. The film mostly received negative review from critics. Shubhra Gupta called it a "shoddy mess". He next appeared alongside
John Abraham in the vigilante action film
Satyameva Jayate (2018). The same year he appeared in the psychological drama
Gali Guleiyan, directed by debutant Dipesh Jain, where he played an electrician living in
Old Delhi, who starts losing his grasp over reality. He won the Best Actor award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. The film premiered at the
22nd Busan International Film Festival and was also screened at the 2017
MAMI Film Festival,
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles,
Atlanta Film Festival,
Cleveland International Film Festival and the
Chicago International Film Festival. His final release of the year was Tabrez Noorani's ensemble drama
Love Sonia, a film about sex trafficking. It had its premiere at the 2018
London Indian Film Festival and was released in India on 14 September 2018. In Devashish Makhija's
Bhonsle, Bajpayee played a terminally ill retired Mumbai cop who befriends a North Indian girl when the locals are trying to get rid of the migrants in the city. The film and his performance met with positive response from critics with
Namrata Joshi calling his acting "astounding in his internalisation of Bhonsle and acts with not just his face but by deploying his whole body." The role earned him his first
National Film Award for Best Actor and second Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor. In 2019, he was given India's fourth highest civilian honour
Padma Shri for his contributions to art. The same year he portrayed dacoit
Man Singh in
Abhishek Chaubey's action film
Sonchiriya.
Raja Sen in his review wrote that Bajpayee is "excellent as a rebel chief." Later, he appeared in the spy action drama web series
The Family Man, directed by
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. Bajpayee played the role of
Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class man who secretly works for an intelligence agency. The series and his performance received positive response from critics with Rohit Naahar of
Hindustan Times writing: "Manoj Bajpayee is, as he usually tends to be, effortlessly excellent." He won the Critics Choice Best Actor, Drama Series Award at the 2020
Filmfare OTT Awards. In 2020, Bajpayee did a supporting role in
Shirish Kunder's crime thriller film
Mrs. Serial Killer, co-starring
Jacqueline Fernandez. The film, which was released on
Netflix, met with a negative response. His final release of the year was the comedy flick
Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari alongside
Diljit Dosanjh and
Fatima Sana Shaikh. It was the first film to release theatrically in India after nearly eight months due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The next year, he narrated the
Discovery+ documentary show
Secrets of Sinauli, directed by Neeraj Pandey. Bajpayee also appeared as a cop trying to solve a murder case in the thriller
Silence... Can You Hear It?. The film was released on
ZEE5 and met with mixed critical feedback. == Acting style and influence ==