A brief five-second appearance in the famous Bollywood film PK, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, ended up transforming the real-life of a beggar and giving him a completely new direction.
In the 2014 film, one of the beggar roles was selected from eight real beggars, and Manoj Roy was chosen for the part. In the scene, he appears standing on a roadside bridge with a stick, a begging bowl in hand, and dark sunglasses on his face. The film’s protagonist, “PK” (played by Aamir Khan), approaches him and secretly steals money from his bowl. The scene ends there—just a few seconds on screen.
But after the film’s release, Manoj Roy’s real-life story came into the spotlight. He was paid 16,000 rupees for his role and returned to his village in Sonitpur district of Assam, where he received a warm welcome. He left begging behind and opened a small grocery shop, which he still runs today.
Manoj came from an extremely poor background. The son of a daily wage laborer, he lost his mother in childhood and his father was ill. He dropped out of school after the fifth grade and moved to Delhi in search of survival, eventually turning to begging. At one point, he even pretended to be blind to earn money on the streets.
During this time, film crew members approached him and asked if he could act. Manoj reportedly replied that begging itself was his way of “acting” just to earn two meals a day. He was given a 20-rupee note and a phone number, and the next day he showed up at a stadium, where he was selected among several beggars.
Later, he was accommodated in a five-star hotel in Delhi, an experience he could hardly believe. Coming from slum conditions where even bathing was difficult, he enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool. He also met stars like Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma during the shoot.
Today, Manoj says people recognize him differently, and he is known in some circles as “PK Honey Singh.” He now dreams of working in Assamese and Bengali films while continuing his small business and rebuilding his life.