OTTplay Awards 2025: Manoj Bajpayee bags Best Actor (Popular) for Despatch

Manoj Bajpayee had an amazing 2024 with captivating OTT releases in several genres. From an investigative journalist in Despatch to returning in ZEE's thriller Silence 2, Manoj's stellar lineup of films proved to be fruitful for him. The Bhaiyya Ji actor bagged the Best Actor (Male) (Popular) award at the third edition of OTTplay Award 2025, which was held in Mumbai on March 22.

Manoj's performance in the ZEE5 crime drama titled Despatch earned him acclaim and audience's love for his power-packed performance. He played Joy Bag, a crime journalist who embarks on a risky journey to uncover dark truths about the 2G spectrum scandal. His quest for truth amid corruption, threats and emotional turmoil forms the crux of the plotline for this gripping crime drama film.

Notably, this is not the first win for Manoj Bajpayee. Earlier in 2022, he proved his mettle by winning the Best Actor in a Series (Jury) for his performance in The Family Man 2 at the OTTplay Awards.

Manoj Bajpayee, who was presented the award by OTTplay CEO Avinash Mudaliar and Sanjay Gupta at the event hosted by Aparshakti Khurana and Kubra Sait, said, “Thank you so much for this award. I feel honoured tonight.”

Bajpayee also garnered critical acclaim last year as he bagged a special mention at the 70th National Film Awards for his robust performance in Gulmohar.

Manoj Bajpayee has delivered numerous praiseworthy performances in the OTT space. From Netflix's Mrs. Serial Killer to ZEE5's Despatch and Silence franchise, he is now an ultimate choice for major streaming platforms. He is among the few actors who have worked across genres in the Hindi cinema and also grabbed not one or two but four National Film awards in movies like Satya, Bhonsle, Shool and Gulmohar.

OTTplay Awards 2025 also saw the who’s who of Indian OTT space turn up, celebrating the theme - “One Nation, One Award”. Divya Dutta, Kajol, Kani Kasruti, Priyamani, and Rakesh Roshan were also honoured at the award function, which had celebs from film industries including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

OTTplay Awards 2025 is co-presented by Real Juice and Kuhl and powered by Stock Gro. The marquee event, held in partnership with HT City and Zoom as TV Broadcast partner, has Flipkart Spoyl as the exclusive style partner, D Pauls as the travel partner, Amante as the premium lingerie partner, Propshop as the real estate partner, Aussie Lamb and Krishinet Fiber as the special partners, UDigital as the ISP and iPTV partner and Hyperlink as the event partner.