Rahul Sharma Shares His Struggle Story

Jyothi Venkatesh

At one point, Rahul Sharma, who was last seen in Mitegi Laxman Rekha, Kaal Bhairav and Ek Ghar Banauga , says that his dad thought he won’t be able to make it as an actor. Today, Rahul Sharma is quite a household name as an actor, but it wasn’t so when he began. In fact, besides other challenges, his family which lives in Dausa a village ahead of Jaipur was also not sure if he would make it. “They are definitely proud now. My parents were always supportive but at a point, my father did not believe in me that I would be able to do it or not. Whether I will be able to survive in this new city? So, he even said that I will go for a year or so, waste money and come back. When I first thought of acting and when I decided after doing theatre that I want to do acting now, I told my mother. She is not that educated, she has only studied till class 8^th. But she is so understanding and progressive. She was like, why not, you should go and you should definitely try it. You should do something different in life, people are going for private and government jobs but you do something different if you want to. Do it if you feel it in your heart. If you think you can give your life to this then go on,” he says, adding, “My mother told me this and I was like now it’s done, now any force in the world can't stop me. After that my mother convinced my father telling him that we should give him a chance to go and try it. Though he was concerned about my safety as I had never lived away from my home  in a big city like Mumbai.”

However, Rahul started preparing himself to become an actor. “After having conversations, I was preparing everything, from my speech to my diction to my language and English, I was working on everything. I came to Mumbai, struggled for a year and a half and the struggle was so much that at one point of time, my father said that now you are on yourself, so if you earn then only I will be able to give you choice to stay back otherwise, come back home. I told him that I am not coming back, I came here to prove myself. I love this job. I did not know this is going to be so difficult but I was prepared for it. I had it in my mind that whatever comes my way I will accept it with a smile,” he says. He adds, "I came to Mumbai in 2010 January and for nearly one and a half years I struggled. First three months were painful with no one to guide and the money sent from home was running out. I gave about 800 auditions in one and a half year. Average 4 to 5 auditions every day. I used to be shortlisted everywhere but was not getting the break. I started doing print shoot and used to get 50 Rs per shirt shoot. In 5000 per month I used to manage my expenses. At one time I had to go for audition and the fare was 20 Rs(Andheri to Bandra) Rs and I got tempted to eat ice cream but had to skip that time as money was needed. Now I have the luxury to eat one kg tub of ice-cream per week"

Rahul continues. “I have studied in Hindi medium so I didn't know English till 21. In Mumbai only I started people hearing in English and was mocked at for not knowing English and was told without knowing English you can't work in entertainment industry go back and join father business of farming and spare parts business. It took 5 years to learn English without going to any classes. Now I even read English books and can confidently talk in English.  Things started moving gradually. I got my first ad and I was happy that now there is something to show them. Everybody was very happy, I still remember how that ad changed my father’s perception. After that, when my show aired on TV and they saw me on TV,  my father told me after 2-3 years that on that day he was very happy. He always criticised me a lot, gave me tough choices, never appreciated me much, never gave me that privileged that saying that yes you have achieved this, so I feel that whatever it is, he is there to make me feel grounded. He is there to protect me whenever there is anything coming on my way and harming me. He has challenged me so that I can prove,” he signs off.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Rahul Sharma,  Struggle Story