IN CHARACTER
Manoj Pahwa. Just thinking of him brings a smile to your face. He has a Chris Farleylike quality to him. That makes him an asset for any project he’s associated with. Like Farley, he’s known for his loud, over-the-top characters. I have been trying to meet him for a few months now. The opportunity finally arrives
He owns a sprawling apartment, which is actually a combination of two flats. It’s drizzling outside and he offers me ginger tea and some homemade cookies, which are just right for the weather. He laughs readily and is a great storyteller. We soon find ourselves swapping gossip like old buddies. His wife Seema Pahwa, herself an actor of renown, joins in the goss session but soon leaves us, admonishing him to finish the interview first and then faff. He grins at that and nods. It was theatre, which brought them together. Manoj joined Delhi’s in 1983 right after the duo drew close. He tells me that Deepa Sahi, Rajendra Gupta, Tigmanshu Dhulia were his compatriots. He guffaws that those were the days when young aspirants like Manoj Bajpayee and Ashish Vidyarthi used to come to see their plays.
