Manoj Bajpayee Powers Through a Knee Injury While Filming 'Despatch'

 Manoj Bajpayee recently shared that he injured his knee while filming his upcoming crime drama, Despatch, directed by Kanu Behl. The Hindi film, in which Bajpayee plays an investigative journalist determined to expose a major financial scandal, made its debut at the International Film Festival of India on Thursday.

This film explores both the inside and outside worlds of a journalist. In trying to navigate these two worlds, my feet sometimes went here and there and in all that, my knee got injured. It's still healing," the actor at the press conference."From America to Japan, I've researched and tried looking for solutions everywhere," he quipped.

The screenplay of Despatch was co-written by Behl and Ishani Banerjee. The film also stars Shahana Goswami and Arrchita Agarwaal. Inspired by real-life events, it will begin streaming on ZEE5 on December 13. The team started working on the movie as Mumbai was grappling with the pandemic.

"This was a very unique and real script... This film was helpful for me for growing as an actor and making friends with Kanu, Shahana and Arrchita," Bajpayee said. 

The way he and Ishani had written the script, no location was being repeated. It was a different kind of production challenge. All of us were infected during the Delta wave of Covid. Then we came back to start the shooting. We cleared all those obstacles to come here and we are releasing the film on December 13.

- Manoj Bajpayee

Kanu Behl, known for his work on Titli and Agra, discussed his approach to filmmaking. He emphasized that cinema, for him, is not a tool for delivering a message. “I don’t see myself as a person who has something to teach or preach. I don’t think the film is trying to send any particular message. Cinema isn’t about standing on a pedestal and telling the audience what life is about,” Behl explained.

"We all have our personal experiences. When you pick a story to tell with courage and honesty, it automatically tells you where it's going. And about hope or despair, I don't think there's an end to it as there's no end to our life," he added.