Actor Manoj Bajpai seemed to have suddenly disappeared. The last couple of years have seen him doing films like Money Hai To Honey Hai, Swami, Dus Kahaniyaan and 1971. Even though his peformance was noteworthy in 1971, the film and the performance went largely unnoticed, as did the others. But this year promises to be different.

Bajpai has a series of films, with strong roles, all set to hit the screens this year. Leading the pack will be a film called Juggad directed by Anand Kumar, which is based on the MCD ceiling in Delhi. Close on the heels of this movie, comes Sanjay Gupta's Acid Factory, and Prakash Jha's political saga, Rajniti, which also stars Ajay Devgan, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor and Nana Patekar. The last two films, will see Bajpai doing the kind of roles that he can truly dig his teeth into. They are performance oriented and may see him back in the limelight. Already a winner of two National Awards, Bajpai is an actor whose choices have not always been very wise, but he admits that once he makes a commitment, he sticks to it. He is definitely an actor one needs to see more of. 2009 may just be his year with three releases coming up.