At a time when his contemporaries were doing film after film, Manoj Bajpai was sitting at home nursing an injured shoulder and missing out on coveted projects. The actor, who will be seen in "Jail", says he was going through a frustrating time when Madhur Bhandarkar offered him the movie.

"I was out of work for two and a half years because of my shoulder injury and I was going through my own suffering. I was frustrated and not keeping good mental health. I was restless and a time came when I started resigning to my destiny," Manoj told IANS in an interview here.

Scripts, however, kept coming his way despite his absence from the big screen.

"I won't give the names of the films I was offered or you'll feel sorry for me, but I had to let go of them because I could not move my arm even an inch," said Manoj.

The actor, who's won kudos for his performances in films like "Satya", "Pinjar" and "Shool", says his personal sorrow helped in slipping into his character in "Jail".

"I was living such a painful life that I guess I was already in the state of mind required to play my character in 'Jail'. I started doing yoga and when 'Jail' was offered, I was much deep into meditation," said the two-time National Award winning actor.

"My role in 'Jail' is that of a silent narrator. I play the protagonist Parag Dixit's (Neil Nitin Mukesh) guardian and I am the narrator and observer of his journey.

"My character Nawab Khan is a convict who is serving life imprisonment. He doesn't speak much yet he is the film's narrator. My character is also the representative of the term 'jail' - both literally and figuratively," he explained.

Co-produced by Percept Picture Company and Bhandarkar Entertainment, "Jail" is the story of a common man who lands up in prison for unknown reasons.

Releasing Nov 6, the film stars Neil and Mugdha Godse apart from Manoj.

Unlike Bhandarkar and Neil, who did rigorous research for the film, Manoj did not make any such efforts.