Manoj Bajpayee and Shah Rukh Khan were in the same theatre group in Delhi and started their acting journey together. During those days, the actors were struggling to make it to the big screen and didn’t have their pockets full. In a recent interview, Manoj shared how he and Shah Rukh used to share cigarettes.
Manoj Bajpayee looks back on his theatre days with Shah Rukh Khan: “No one would smoke one cigarette all by themselves” In an interview with Galatta India, Manoj recalled, “When you are in a theatre group, and someone is smoking, they would never smoke alone. No one would smoke one cigarette all by themselves because no one could afford it. So if anyone had one cigarette, they had to share it with four people.
” He further added, “Even if he had the money to buy a pack of cigarette, or buy one cigarette, he could not afford to have it alone because others have shared it with him in the past and now it is his turn to share it.” While Shah Rukh stayed in it for a short while before moving to Mumbai and starting his career in Bollywood, Manoj stayed in Barry John’s theatre group for a while. Manoj shared that he moved to Mumbai only after he worked in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen .
In an earlier interview with Galatta Plus, Manoj had shared that his first visit to a nightclub in Delhi was with Shah Rukh, “Shah Rukh was with Barry, I was with Barry, at the same time. So many friends who were there that night. I am still in touch with them, still very good .
