Manoj Pahwa: Not a shooting star but an actor in making

Manoj Pahwa describes his Bollywood journey not as an over-night star but as a planet: forming slowly, steadily, struggling and eventually becoming habitable, finding himself to be now in his best phase.

Over the years, the 54-year-old actor has featured in supporting roles mainly in big commercial films like "Ready", "Singh is Kinng", "London Dreams", "Jolly LLB", "Dil Dhadakne Do" among others. But reaching this far wasn't easy for him.

The actor says he is aware that in the country, it is a star who draws the audience to theatres. It's a fact, Pahwa says, and it doesn't hurt him.

"People aren't going to come to theatres unless there's a star. Coming to theatre today with family is expensive. They want to see big event films like 'Avengers' or 'Baahubali' . Even Hollywood is turning to event films as theatres there are also running empty for normal films," he told PTI.

"In India also, unless there is Salman Khan or someone else, people won't come to see Manoj Pahwa or any good actor. It doesn't hurt me, it's a fact."
"He had just worked for 15-20 days at our place. Neither Seema (Pahwa) nor I were going to work so one day he said, 'who goes to work in this house?! Who will give me my salary?' That's the kind of life we selected. I want to live on my own terms."
By the time he came to Mumbai with his family, the actor found himself in the midst of what he calls "the golden age of TV."
"Whatever commercial films were coming my way, I did all of them. Now that I've become stable, in the last three years I've started being selective about choosing the script."