By Hindustan Times

Mumbai, June 30 -- Manoj Bajpayee, whose caller tune is 'Hello Mr Bond', feels like a desi super hero today, thanks to Prakash Jha's Raajneeti (2010) that has made him a household name again. "The film has surpassed Satya (1998), both in terms of box-office collections as well as character popularity.

People are repeating my lines from the film and it feels so good," he exults.

The actor admits that after the disappointment of Swami, the commercial failure of the National Award winning film, 1971, Acid Factory losing out on promotion and Jail slipping on collections, he had stopped expecting anything from his films.

"I had stopped hoping for a blockbuster and had resigned myself to be content with critical acclaim. But Raajneeti has not only been appreciated, it has been hugely accepted by the public who are going back for repeat viewings," Bajpayee points out. "Finally, Bhiku Mhatre is dead. I'm sad for him because he had attained cult status. But I'm also happy for this new success; long live Veeru bhaiya!"

Beaming, he adds that thanks to the recent hit, his choices that had started shrinking, have flourished again. Suddenly, he is getting more offers and better roles.

Are politicians sending out feelers too, given that Veeru bhaiyya seems to have successfully wooed the masses? Bajpayee says that every time an election is near, there is pressure on him to campaign for one party or the other and even contest from a constituency. He says that the reason he hasn't campaigned yet is because he didn't know anyone well enough to rally for them. And the reason he will never jump onto the political bandwagon is because he loves acting too much to leave it.