Manoj Bajpayee has built his career on playing men with complicated inner lives, and he has often said that rejection gave him a thick skin. But in a recent interview with PTI, the actor said the abuse that followed the original title of his latest film crossed a different line: trolls began circulating photographs of his family.
How the title row unfolded
The film, directed by Ritesh Shah, was first announced in February this year as Ghooskhor Pandat. The title became a flashpoint on social media, with several politicians and organisations calling it casteist and offensive. After the backlash, the makers changed the name to Gajab Raat.
Bajpayee said the online hate aimed at him and the makers did not stop once the title changed. His career, he noted, had already taken him through rejection and insults, so he could absorb personal attacks.
- February 2026: The film is announced as Ghooskhor Pandat.
- After objections: Politicians and organisations call the title casteist; the makers rename it Gajab Raat.
- October 2026: The teaser drops earlier in the month; the film premieres on Netflix on Friday, October 23.
No one to confront
Bajpayee, who is married to actor Shabana Raza of Kareeb and Fiza fame, said the couple has a daughter. He described himself as easygoing but also quick to act when his family is threatened.
“Who could I confront because there are nameless people out there,” the actor told PTI.
He said the personal attacks were something he could take: “Assault me with the worst thing, I’ll take it because I’m an actor.” What upset him was the shift from his work to his home, he added: “when they started publishing the photos of my family and saying things.”
The film after the row
The renamed film’s first teaser arrived earlier this month, and it premiered on Netflix on Friday, October 23. The release puts the title row in the rear-view mirror commercially, but Bajpayee’s account ensures the episode is remembered for something beyond the rename.
Title changes after public objection are an institutional response: a producer can act, a release can proceed. The harassment of a family by anonymous accounts has no equivalent mechanism. That distinction is the lasting note in Bajpayee’s telling, and it is the part of the story a title change could not fix.
For readers who follow Hindi cinema as a record, this is not simply a controversy footnote for Gajab Raat. It is a marker of how online outrage around a film can move from a debate over language to the publication of private family images, and how the person at the centre is left with grief rather than an argument to win.
Source: The Times of India
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