In a recent interaction, Ranbir Kapoor shared insights into his early life before becoming a Bollywood star. Before his acting debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2007 film Saawariya, Ranbir worked as an assistant director for Bhansali’s Black. Reflecting on his college days in Mumbai and New York, Ranbir discussed how his late father, actor Rishi Kapoor, kept him on a tight budget in New York to teach him the value of money.
Ranbir began his higher education at The School of Visual Arts in New York after completing college in Mumbai. However, his father sent him back to New York, believing he was too young to start acting. During this period, Ranbir enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute to study method acting.
Despite coming from a privileged background, Ranbir’s father maintained a strict budget for him, allowing just enough for two meals a day. “By then, I was very eager to come back and start work. I felt like I had gotten the experience of America. It was not really the college experience but the exposure of talking to people from all over the world and living alone. My father had kept me on a very tight budget. Of course, when I say tight budget, I am still coming from a privileged background, but it was enough to have a McDonald’s dollar menu meal for lunch and dinner. So, it was like $2 for lunch and $2 for dinner. It was as strict as that, even though I come from a privileged background,” Ranbir shared with Nikhil Kamath.
When asked why his father imposed such strict financial limits, Ranbir said, “He never addressed this, but I think he wanted me to live like a student and not a superstar’s son. Maybe it was to teach the value of money.” Even after returning to Mumbai, Ranbir continued living frugally, relying on public transport while assisting Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Black. “My father wanted to school me that this is not life, you are too moisturised, you need to see what hardship is,” he said.
Ranbir also recalled his college days in Mumbai, where he picked up the habit of smoking, which persisted until last year when he quit for his health and after the birth of his daughter Raha. “HR College reminds me of smoking because that was the first time I bought a packet of cigarettes. You smoke with your friends outside the college and you feel grown up. It’s the first time you are wearing your own clothes and not a school uniform,” he reminisced.
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