Dipika Kakar opened up on how she survived her financial woes during her early days in Mumbai.
Dipika Kakar established herself as one of the popular faces on Indian television with shows like Sasural Simar Ka and Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum. However like every actor, she too, have had her share of struggle before tasting success.
In a recent interview with ETimes, Dipika revealed that she had initially come to the Maximum City for the job of an air hostess with just ‘one small suitcase and an airbag’. Unfortunately, she had to quit that career owing to her health issues. But, destiny had some other plans in store for her and she soon became an actress.
Recalling her struggling days, Dipika shared that she stayed in the ‘worst of PGs’, walked down to her auditions as she did not have money to commute and even stayed in a rented flat with no curtains, bed sheets or a mattress.
The actress recalled, “In Mumbai, four-five girls stay together in small houses as PGs and you don’t have an option because you are not earning well to afford a house of your own. People earn Rs 12-15 thousand and it is difficult to manage expenses like food, rent, travelling, training, makeup, everything. I still remember the days I used to keep my eyes on the metre of auto rickshaws and I would know how much I’ve. So the moment the metre would show that amount, I would ask the auto guy to stop there. The rest of the journey, I would go walking.”
Dipika told the portal that she even stayed with her mother in a PG due to certain issues at home. Later, she bought a one BHK flat in MHADA colony, for Rs 6500 rent.
“We didn’t have curtains, bed sheets, or a mattress. I remember since it was a necessity, we bought a mattress for ₹300-400. From there till the next 15-20 days till the time I didn’t get my salary, we survived without a fridge, gas stove, or anything. We would hang dupattas as curtains because we both were ladies and we didn’t have money to buy curtains. We would sleep in opposite directions on the same mattress – just the way one does in trains),” the TV actress recalled.
She shared that she first bought a red-coloured small stove that had such a small cylinder that it would last only 10 days. To refill them, she would walk all the way to Dadar as she had a phobia of Mumbai buses back then. Further, the actress also said that she and her husband Shoaib Ibrahim faced financially bad days even after doing hit shows.
On a related note, Deepika who is expecting her first baby, recently revealed that she has decided to take a step back from her acting career as she wants to live a life as a housewife and a mother.
