Anupamaa's Rupali Ganguly Opens Up About Working At Boutiques And As A Waitress To Support Her Family

Rupali Ganguly is currently ruling the small screen with her stellar performance in the number one show on Television. The actress, who is presently playing the lead character in Anupamaa, first gained recognition for featuring in the most popular sitcom Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai. However, the road to success wasn’t an easy one for Rupali as she had to struggle a lot before her career began.

In a recent chat with ETimes TV, the actress opened up on her struggles which started after her filmmaker father incurred losses. Ganguly recalled the time when she had to work as a waitress and at boutiques to support her family. The actress also pointed out that the casting couch was quite prevalent in the 90s and hence she decided to opt out of the film industry and joined television.

Rupali shared, "My father was filmmaker Anil Ganguly, who made films with a lot of passion. Unfortunately, two three of his films tanked and we were literally on the streets. During those days, I was doing films but I never took my career seriously that time. At that time in the film industry casting couch was very prevalent. I had a film background but I had promised my father that I won’t ever lose my dignity and that’s how he allowed me to become a heroine. But then I couldn’t handle how the industry worked then, especially the casting couch thing. I decided I can’t deal with it.”

She went on to add, “I stepped out and started doing hotel management from Dadar Catering. But I continued doing plays along with it. I had to also support my family so I had to work as papa was not keeping well. I worked in boutiques, I was working as a waiter through my catering college. I would get Rs 180 an hour. I was constantly working and doing different jobs. I would also do plays but I didn’t get anything in terms of money. I was once a waiter at a party where Papa was a guest!”

The actress further said that at this point in time, she started working in ads and that’s how she met her husband, Ashwin. He ended up suggesting that she try TV and her first audition, was interestingly for Rajan Shahi, who is also the producer of Anupamaa. Ganguly debuted with Shahi’s show Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi in 1999. She bagged the role after the actress who was initially supposed to do the show left the project to pursue a career in the movies.