Actor Rajesh Kumar, widely recognized for his role as Rosesh in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, recently opened up about the intense financial struggles he faced after venturing into farming. Although Rajesh has now established himself as a successful farmer, his initial days were far from easy. In a recent interview, he shared that floods destroyed his crops twice during his early attempts at farming. He even recounted a time when he was forced to sell vegetables outside his children’s school and had only Rs 2,500 left in his bank account.
Speaking to Dainik Bhaskar, Rajesh revealed that he took up farming in 2019, renting 20 acres of land in Palghar. Unfortunately, the 15,000 saplings he planted didn’t survive, as an unexpected flood destroyed them all. “That area had never seen a flood before, but it rained heavily that year, wiping out all the plants. It was a very rough start,” he said.
His second attempt met with another setback when the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed, preventing him from tending to the farm for three months. As a result, 75% of his crop was damaged. By November, Rajesh made a third attempt at farming. “We would transport cow dung in my car, and my kids refused to ride in it afterward,” he joked. Just when things seemed to stabilize, his farm was devastated by a fire, which destroyed half of the crops. “I was shattered. I thought I couldn’t continue. It just didn’t seem possible,” he recalled.
Determined to keep going, Rajesh pivoted to planting vegetables. “Finally I set up a table in front of my son’s school and started selling the vegetables. It as the time EMIs started bouncing. Credit card people started coming to my house. I had accumulated a lot of debt. We just left the farm and went. Then my good inning in acting started,” he said.
Rajesh then returned to acting, landing a role in Binny And Family, which was filmed in the UK. Despite the opportunity, he was so financially strained that he couldn’t even afford chocolates for his children. “I had just Rs 2,500 in my bank account when I was in the UK. I traveled back and forth twice during that 24-day shoot, but I couldn’t bring back even two chocolates for my kids,” he said emotionally.
Rajesh returned to acting with Kota Factory 2, where he played a small role of a Math teacher. He also acted in Shahid Kapoor-starrer Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Rautu Ka Raaz.
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