Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar: When Bollywood actors opened up about their financial struggles

01/5Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar: When Bollywood actors opened up about their financial struggles

Making it big in Bollywood is no easy feat! While Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan enjoy massive popularity and lavish lifestyles – there have been times when these stars have faced a massive financial crunch too. While SRK found it tough to survive in Mumbai during his initial days, Amitabh Bachchan lost it all due to some failed ventures. Here’s taking a look at times when Bollywood actors openly spoke about their financial struggles…

02/5Shah Rukh Khan: When I first landed in Mumbai, I would sleep on the sidewalk

It is a known fact that SRK took off from Delhi to become a Bollywood star, which he did, but it was not easy. The actor had arrived in the city of dreams with his three friends and they had no money to rent an abode. Reminiscing the days of his financial woes, Shah Rukh had earlier shared, “When I first landed in Mumbai from Delhi, I had tagged along with 3 other friends. We had no money to even buy food. We used to sleep on the sidewalk outside the Oberoi Hotel (now Trident) on the Queen’s Necklace. In the mornings we used to clean up in the hotel’s washrooms and pretend to be the hotel’s guests. When we had no money to go back to Delhi, I went to the local market and sold my Pentax camera for 1500 rupees, so we could buy our tickets back to Delhi”.READMORE

03/5Akshay Kumar: I used to participate in street fights to earn extra cash

Akshay Kumar is a fitness enthusiast and a master of martial arts. So when he started off in Bollywood, the actor milked his expertise to sustain. Akshay had shared, “I had learnt martial arts so that held me in good stead during my tough time in Bangkok. Since I was a martial arts enthusiast I picked up on Muay Thai boxing and I used to participate in street fights to earn some extra cash. On many occasions, I got beaten up badly, but it was an honest and much-needed earning.”

04/5Amitabh Bachchan: Tax authorities had put notice of recovery on my home

While Amitabh Bachchan was loved by fans on the big screen, his event management and production company – Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL) put him under debt. The actor had revealed that he was facing 55 legal cases, had to mortgage his house, and had a debt of about Rs 90 crore. “In the year 2000, when the entire world was celebrating the new century, I was celebrating my disastrous fortune. There were no films, no money, no company, a million legal cases against and the tax authorities had put notice of recovery on my home,” Big B had shared on his blog.

05/5Rajkummar Rao: There were days when there was no money to buy food

Rajkummar Rao is now having glorious run in Bollywood and has even won a National Award but surviving in Mumbai was a tough task. Speaking about the struggles he faced, the actor had told, “The initial two years when I was looking for work, it was extremely tough. There were days when there was no money to buy food. But my mother gave me that confidence and had this unshakable trust in me. I would call back home and they would send me money so that I could have food on my table”.