He was an average student in school and dreamt of taking up a banking job after an MBA.
“Because it gives a fixed salary at the end of the month and annual increments,” reasons Manjot Singh for whom destiny had much bigger plans. And after auditioning for Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! as the young Lucky, his life changed. Five films down the line, including the recent Fukrey and having completed first year in college, the boy is all set to play his first “serious” character in the upcoming film, The Zero Line.
A flashback into his school life has Manjot sharing that he, “was a big cheater and cheated very stylishly. In every exam, I asked for an extra answer sheet which I would hide in my blazer’s inner pocket. I filled it up at home and brought it in the next exam but was careful to pull it out only after half time so that the examiners didn’t suspect me.
I pity my classmates who cheated with the help of small chits.”
This was because he was “extremely” bad at memorising dates and could never strike a cordial chord with history. But life has a curious way of catching up. “In The Zero Line, I am shown as somebody who is a topper in History. I was asked to memorise all dates and often wondered ‘kyun yeh log zulm kar rahe hain mujhpar’!” quips the actor who is quite shy in real life and accustomed to being scolded by his father. So, it wasn’t difficult for him to act with his reel life father in The Zero Line since “it shows my father scolding me and at home too, papa keeps scolding me and I keep listening.”
Unlike his onscreen self, Manjot by his own admission is one, “who remains quiet most of the time. Par jab bolta hun to dusron ki bolti band ho jati hai!”
But now he is planning to be more than just happy-go-lucky as far as roles are concerned. “Its good if I experiment now so as to find out how the audience will accept me in future.”
It is, however, not the character that attracts him to a film. “In Fukrey, the title attracted me and I signed it but the banner should also be good. Udaan is a perfect example which proves that nothing can beat a good story and that matters the most to me. By God’s grace, all my choices till date, have tasted success.”
Above all, he is thankful to the industry for accepting his true identity. “Sardars could earlier be spotted only in comic roles. I hope that now opportunities for sardars will increase and more and more sardars will join the
industry!”