Rohit Shetty Recalls Earning Rs 35 On His First Job; Says 'I Had To Choose Food And Travel'

Rohit Shetty assisted on various film and even worked as a body double before he made his directorial debut with Ajay Devgn-starrer Zameen in 2003. The film was an average grosser at the box office. But it was the 'Golmaal' and 'Singham' franchise which catapulted him to fame. In his recent interview with a news portal, the filmmaker got candid about his struggles in his journey in Bollywood.

Rohit revealed that he used to earn Rs 35 at the beginning of his career and there were instances when he had to make a choice between food and travel.

The director told CurlyTales, "It was not an easy journey actually. People think that since I'm from the film industry it must have been easy for me. When I started working, I used to get just ₹35. Many times it happened that I had to choose between food and travel. Sometimes I had to miss food and sometimes travel. I also started walking on the set."

He added, "We were staying in Santa Cruz and then we shifted to Dahisar, to my grandmother's house. Financially there were a lot of crises at that time so we didn't have a house to stay. My grandmother used to stay in Dahisar, it was very far. Then I started walking. I used to walk from Malad to Andheri, many times. It used to take me one and a half, two hours in the sun. I know the lanes so now when I tell my driver 'Take this route, not that', he looks at me in the rearview mirror 'How does he know, was he a thief before?'."

Cut to present, Rohit is one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood. His last release Sooryavanshi which is the first Bollywood big-ticket release post pandemic has minted Rs 178.60 crore so far and still running strong at the box office. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif in leading roles.