OTTplay Awards 2025: Manoj Bajpayee pokes fun at show host Aparshakti Khurana, says 'Isko gaali dena maine....'

Manoj Bajpayee had a phenomenal 2024, impressing audiences with his versatile performances in various OTT releases. He played an investigative journalist in ZEE5's Despatch and made a thrilling return in ZEE's Silence 2. His impressive line-up of films paid off, earning him the 'Best Actor (Male) Popular' award at the third edition of OTTplay Awards 2025, held in Mumbai on March 22.

Manoj Bajpayee pokes fun at Aparshakti Khurana

However, after accepting the award, the 55-year-old actor brought the house down with his comical jokes and sarcasm on the stage and made the night memorable. While joking, Bajpayee poked fun at the show host Aparshakti Khurana and shared his experience working with him. The National Award-winning actor said that when Khurana debuted with Saat Uchakkey (2016), he did his workshop and taught him how to use slangs in a proper way. Later, an overwhelming Aparshakti came towards Bajpayee and touched his feet for blessings on the stage.

Manoj Bajpayee pokes fun at Sanjay Gupta

The award was presented by filmmaker Sanjay Gupta and OTTplay CEO Avinash Mudaliar to Manoj Bajpayee. Even the Despatch-actor made a funny comment on Sanjay Gupta. He poked fun at the filmmaker and said, ”Sanjay Gupta, jo ki itna purana dost hai, unhone itna bura introduction diya mera, kash Kunal Kohli yaha hote toh mera achha introduction hota! (Sanjay Gupta is such a close friend of mine, and yet he gave such a bad introduction of mine).”

Thess funny comments made the whole room full of people, including the show hosts Aparshakti Khurana and Kubra Sait, the presenters Sanjay Gupta and Avinash Mudaliar laugh out loud and fill with claps for Bajpayee's humorous jokes.

OTTplay Awards 2025 also saw the who's who of Indian's OTT space turn up, celebrating the theme - 'One Nation, One Award'. Kajol, Kani Kasruti, Priyamani, Jyothika, Nimisha Sajayan, Patralekhaa, Anupam Kher, Neeraj Madhav, Shalini Pandey, Hina Khan, and Imtiaz Ali were also honoured at the shimmering award event, which has held from film industries including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.