EXCLUSIVE: Anil Kapoor on changing his name to AK Rao down South: I thought Bollywood won’t give me work

Anil Kapoor is one of the most successful actors out there in India today who has had an illustrious career spanning over four decades. Even today, he is the face of some of the most poignant and successful stories in  the industry. However, that is an empire, a legacy that he has created for himself with his hard work as the beginning of that journey wasn’t as smooth.

 

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The life and career led by Anil Kapoor has been inspirational to say the least and in a recent conversation for His Story with Bollywood Bubble, the actor opened up about the same.

While his acting journey began about four decades ago, Anil was a part of the film industry from long before that. While some might consider those jobs odd now, but that isn’t how Anil sees them. He said, “I wouldn’t call them odd jobs because I just loved doing them, like waking up the actors and then picking them up, fetching them from the airport, dropping them to the location, looking after them, getting the right snacks and then the tea breaks that we used to call nashta, so all these kind of odd jobs I did. Then, of course, I was upgraded to doing a bit of shopping for hardware for the shoot and then scouting locations, fixing and negotiating the prices for the locations. Then I was upgraded to becoming the casting director. If you see Hum Paanch, I’m the casting director there. That’s the first time my name appeared in the titles because I really helped in the casting of the film.”

 

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After gathering all that experience, Anil moved on to acting, but he didn’t straightaway jumped into Hindi films as well. He shared, “And then of course after that I did my course of acting and I was doing bit roles from 1977 to 1982. I did a Telugu film, and then a Kannada film and then of course Woh Saat Din happened.”

 

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As for his stint down South, Anil changed his name to AK Rao for his Telugu film. When mentioned that, the actor shared the story behind it. He revealed, “Yes, I did because I thought that nobody’s really going to give me work in Bollywood so I said let me make myself (available elsewhere). You know beggars can’t be choosers. So I got this offer from a Telugu film then I did a Kannada film, so I said now let me you know (try harder). And then of course things change again, I got a few films over here and they did well and then I’m sitting in front of you now.”

 

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Anil’s journey in the industry has indeed been a roller coaster ride but seeing him today achieve the success that he truly deserves, is really heartwarming.

Check out the entire conversation with Anil Kapoor here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Anil Kapoor’s old school romance with wife Sunita Kapoor will melt your heart, watch