I've never been more scared of promoting any of my films: Manoj Bajpayee on Missing

Actor Manoj Bajpayee is confident his next film Missing, which unites the actor with one of his favourite co-stars, Tabu, will leave the audience shocked.

"We worked together in Hansal Mehta's Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! (2000) and Akash Deep's Ghaath (2000) many years ago. Now I can say we've finally done another film together that does justice to her talent, and the talent of Annu Kapoor. Missing is basically about three characters played by three of us actors," said Bajpayee.

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"I am never satisfied with my own performances. There's always a hunger... That's why I am led to new directors. Mukul Abhyankar, who directed Missing shocked me, as he will shock audiences. He was constantly excited about the scenes we shot every day.

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"He would call up at the end of the day and say, ‘Sir, yeh aapne kaise kiya? [How did you do this?]' I did, because you give. An actor needs a director and co-stars who inspire him. I got both in Missing."

About the secrecy and the sudden decision to release Missing alongside several other films on 6 April, the actor said, "Firstly, the decision is not sudden. We decided 6 April was the correct date when there is no big release. Also, we wanted to keep the release date a secret as long as possible because we did not want to do too much media interaction on Missing."

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"This is a suspense film in the truest sense. Every twist and turn in the plot is crucial. We can't give any of it away. I never knew it was so difficult to promote a suspense film. I know the media will ask us questions about the plot and one of us will blurt out something that will give away the suspense. I've never been more scared of promoting any of my films."

Bajpayee said preparing a trailer was a killer.

"We had to be careful with every frame because almost frame has a suspense element. I can't tell you anything about my character because I may give away the plot. All I can say is all three of us Tabu, Annu Kapoor and I seldom had a chance to give so much of ourselves to a film."

One would be thinking that Bajpayee would be sulking about the failure of his last release Aiyaary (2018). But no.

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"I'm very proud of Aiyaary. According to me, it is Neeraj Pandey's most accomplished work and one of my most satisfying performances. It suffered because of the relentless back-and-forth with the release date. Anyway I've put it behind me now. An artiste can't shed tears over what is gone. Luckily, for me there is always the next challenge," he concluded.