Manoj Bajpayee, starring as a journalist in 'Despatch' releasing on ZEE5 on December 13, recently discussed the film alongside director Kanu Bahl. They were joined by real-life investigative journalists who shared their experiences and challenges in the field. Catch the full conversation in the video above!
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00:00Hello. Hello. One thing I just wanted to ask all of you, as Kanu has been saying that,
00:09you know, at the end of the day, a journalist is a human being. And human frailty is something
00:14that we all know. We all know how in any field, the greed, the fear, all of these things,
00:24the need, personal need, the family, how much conflict a journalist of this nature will
00:36go through, say, on a day-to-day basis. This is something, because this is also a film
00:40talks about, this is also, these things which is related to this, these topics are somewhere
00:50become the reason for his fall. Okay. Yeah. Manoj, you have actually taken up a very
00:55interesting point. The major concern is mental health of journalists. This was very evident
01:01during the COVID-19 pandemic. So what happened, for the first time, there were informations and
01:06disinformations which were there in public domain. And nobody, including journalists,
01:10had any clue about what exactly was happening around. Now, for instance, people were talking
01:15about using sodium hypochlorite as a chemical that need to be laced on the dead body so that
01:20the dead body do not spread COVID virus. This is a myth. But there was a directive from the
01:28municipal commissioner saying that the bodies cannot be buried within the city limit. It has
01:32to be buried outside the city limit. There was a reason for that. But because it was also like,
01:38you know, sentimental thing, so they said like, no, no, no, it has to be finally agreed to be
01:41buried in the city. Now the problem here is like when you are lacing a dead body with three layers
01:47of plastic packet, you're also using sodium hypochlorite for lacing it completely and then
01:53you're burying that. The question comes up is like what the biodegradability of the plastic,
01:58it takes 100 long years, you're damaging the environment. So when that issue was brought in,
02:03we realized that like it was much more than what we are talking about, because many of the
02:07journalists at the same time lost their jobs also. Many a time if you see day in day out,
02:12only murder, crime, you're talking about threats coming in that psychologically impacts the
02:20journalist end of the day because he's also a human being. So during that COVID, there was a
02:25fact finding committee that was founded. And that fact finding committee through Mumbai Press Club
02:29found out that like, many of the journalists had to go through depression. Many of them,
02:33especially the freelancers, the photographers, they had to suffer a lot. Because unless you
02:38are having the source of regular source of income to clear off your monthly expenses,
02:43that was a concern. So this is a problem. I would like Dev and Yasha to throw some light
02:52because they have also gone through and that is something like you were still the budding
02:56young journalist. So if you can throw that light, and then I'll ask the last question and we can
03:01wind up. Or you want me to continue this further? It's a good time. So if you can throw this light
03:08and then I'll ask the last question. That was the time when I made that switch from print to TV
03:14because I don't think any of us could sustain in print for a very long time, even Gautam agrees to
03:19it. I lost my job at the height of the pandemic. It was I think the case with most of us. But you
03:27know, when you speak of that thin line that one needs to draw, we of course have families to go
03:31back to. So something that we're speaking about. So more recently, if I speak about, it's all
03:36white collar crime and cybercrime. I've been covering agencies for quite some time. And more
03:40recently, there was this whole Mahadev app case, which I think all of us know about. And again,
03:46like what Vinod sir mentioned, for us on TV, it is all about showing that face. And sometimes when
03:52you go ahead, bring that element out, you are on the other end, and you're called by the police
03:56saying, aap aajho, aapka statement likhna hai. On the other hand, you know, you're doing your job.
04:00But we all come from a family which are normal families. We do not come from journalist families
04:05who know what it means. So when I was covering that Mahadev app case, we had a lead that the
04:12whole money is going in for terrorism. Like you spoke about underworld, that money directly,
04:17indirectly was linked to underworld. And having gone ahead, spoken that on air, ran stories on
04:23it, never see that defamation notice that went to my editor at Delhi, my editor in Mumbai and to
04:28me. And when you go and take that back home, there's a forcing your parents are saying,
04:33what is this? We'll have to go and stand in front of court. And for us, it's absolutely okay,
04:37because we are standing in court every single day, right? It's like we're not in the witness box,
04:40we're standing there and we know what the whole process is. But of course, you know, for your
04:43family, when you see the defamation notice, for them, they'll ask you twice saying, why are you
04:49all getting into all of this? So yes, I mean, it's a thin line that one maintains. But of course,
04:53it's a lot of passion that one requires to continue doing that despite all those hurdles
04:58that come your way. Do you want to add something on this? Since everybody's covered the depression
05:05or the health angle, and Yesha has also spoken on something else, like Manoj asked about the
05:10morals and the ethics part. I think to begin with, it lays the framework of who you will
05:15turn out to be as a human being before being a good journalist. So I think having strong,
05:20intact morals is also very closely linked to the kind of journalist you will become,
05:24because it also has a very direct and adverse impact on authenticity. If you're an immoral
05:30person, you're like, aarey chhodna yaar, bother kaun karega verify or cross-check karnega,
05:34because in the age of breaking news era, just want to put things out very quickly,
05:39without really understanding the kind of negative ramifications it may have,
05:43if the news is wrong. So you have a very responsible role. And where ethics comes
05:50into play is, after I joined the channel, right now I work with India Today and Aaj Tak,
05:55so many people have come with very shady and dubious requests, ke sir aap apna camera aur mic
06:02leke mere office aajao. I said aur aage kya karna hai, aage ka brief toh batao. They're like,
06:07bas aap aajao, ek jan aayega, mene usko bula hai, aap khali mic uski taraf kar dena. I said,
06:12matlab, wo mic dekh ke dar jaayega, wo aapko itna itna paisa toh on the spot dehi dehega.
06:18So I said to, mera isme kya hai? He's like, nahi nahi, yeh paisa aapka hai, mujhe usse
06:22badla lena hai. So I said, which is where my morals heavily come into play, saying
06:27that bhai main tumhare liye thodi na aisa vasuli agent beta hoon. Because what happens
06:33is that you spend your entire life trying to achieve that credibility, that immaculate
06:38reputation of yours, wo jo tum ek XYZ amount loge abhi ke liye, wo short term pay hai.
06:46Lekin uske baad hoga long term pay off. You will be paying to the agencies, you will be
06:51paying to the courts, itna vakil pe kharcha karoge, tumhari bail hogi nahi, agar wo bailable
06:55section nahi hua, then you know what is, you're going to land up in.
06:59True. So my last, you want to take? Yeah, because I have a very personal story connected
07:03to it. I don't know how you forgot this. Taking off from it, he said, it helps if you
07:09have a supportive or an understanding boss just above you. Back in the Express, when
07:15I was with them, I spent some 10 months under round the clock police protection at one point
07:19because it began in a quite funny way. A Bollywood star had a dispute with her partner and this
07:26gangster calls up the office saying ki main uska fan hoon, tum usse door rahe na. I'm
07:30like ye script kaha se bol gaya? Why is he doing this now? Personal dispute. So I just
07:33started asking around and finding out. And ultimately I wrote a story saying, it's just
07:38he's trying to get attention. And I used certain words which the people speaking about the
07:44gangster had used. I quoted them and he took offence and then two months later, I'm informed
07:48that there were certain people near my office, they were looking for me and they've been
07:51arrested. Unki jaime mera photo tha, unke baat weapon tha and so on and so forth. But
07:56just after the protection was put into place and I was always accompanied by an armed guard,
08:01a month later, the same gangster tried to kill someone in an area traditionally ruled
08:05by another gangster, old time gangster. So I called up my boss who had left for the day
08:09saying ki iski harkate phir shuru ho gayi. Let's do one more story saying he's being
08:13a wannabe again. And she said ki now you're playing with fire for your ego. You made your
08:18point. You told everyone in writing that he is just trying to get attention. Right now
08:24you have protection. Right now you have a family to think of. And my mother was actually
08:28fighting with me every day saying quit the profession and all. And you want to do it
08:32again for what? And she would have stopped it. But if she had not, I would have maybe
08:39done something which would have worsened the situation for everybody, my employer, my family.
08:43But that helps a lot to have a supportive life.
08:47We all have a saga to go through. We all have had that experience. But having said that,
08:52we have come to the end of our session. But I would like to thank both Kanu and Manoj
08:59for sparing the time coming down over here, making journalists who come and speak out
09:03their mind, their heart. And our best wishes for your movie that comes on the 13th. So
09:08best wishes. Thank you for coming and making it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
09:14you. Thank you so much for your insightful anecdotes. We would like Kanu and Manoj sir
09:18to also thank you all for your time, for coming here and sharing all of those lovely
09:23anecdotes.
09:24Oh, yes. Lovely. I mean, for me as an actor, you know, every time all these guys were talking,
09:32I was going back to the shoot days and the challenges and all the odd things. Those were
09:40happening and also the questions that was coming to your mind when you are actually
09:45playing it. And when there is a director who has certain answers, because he's been
09:51part of the R&D. I also feel that hearing you somewhere, I'm a little relieved that
10:00we were somewhere very close to Kanu's depiction. Somewhere very, very close to what really
10:08happens in real life. Also, the one thing that I couldn't ask, you know, greed is one
10:17thing. Job is one thing. But knowing that there is a risk of losing life, that is another
10:25thing. But salute you all, what you do and how you do. As you said that you guys are
10:34driven by the passion. I just hope that the fourth pillar survives all the oddities, all
10:40the obstacles, all the greed. And fourth pillar always stands straight and strong in this
10:46country.