Manoj Bajpayee on 25 years of Satya: 'I got Bhiku Mhatre’s wardrobe at Hill Road for ₹20000'

Actor Manoj Bajpayee had a breakthrough in Bollywood with Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 cult gangster film Satya. He played the Mumbai street gangster Bhiku Mhatre, which gained a cult appeal among fans of Hindi cinema over the years. As the film completes 25 years on July 3, Manoj has revealed that he bought Bhiku Mhatre's wardrobe himself. (Also Read: Satya turns 25: Ram Gopal Varma's film showed underworld's enduring romance with Bollywood)

In a new interview, Manoj said that he shopped all the costumes of his iconic character at Hill Road, a shopping street in Bandra, Mumbai. He recalled how he got the entire wardrobe within ₹20,000.

Manoj on shopping his costumes

In an interview with Film Companion, Manoj said, “Those days, there was no costume designer. Ramu told me to get ₹20,000 from a production guy for the costumes. I went to Hill Road and shopped all the costumes there. I wanted really flashy shirts for Bhiku. And you won't believe but I got all the clothes for ₹20,000.”

However, Ramu and Shefali Shah, who played Manoj's wife in Satya, argued that if he was street shopping, Manoj would have gotten the entire wardrobe for much less than ₹20,000.

Shefali Shah wore used saris, her own jewellery

In the same interview, Shefali revealed that she insisted to Ramu and his team that they provide her old saris for Pyaari Mhatre's wardrobe. “She won't wear new saris. That's why I told them to give me used saris. I wear a new one only during the scene where I talk about Jurassic Park. Because that's a once-in-a-year event for her: to go watch a movie. In the song (Sapne Mein Milti Hai), I wore my own jewellery. It belonged to my grandmother who's a Maharashtrian. That really helped me with not just the jewellery but also the role,” Shefali said.

About Satya

Satya was co-written by Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla. Saurabh also played the memorable role of Kallu Mama in the film. The ensemble cast also included JD Chakravarthy (who played the titular role), Urmila Matondkar, Aditya Srivastava, Paresh Rawal, Sanjay Mishra, Sushant Singh and Makarand Deshpande.