Did you know Rajinikanth worked as a bus conductor in Bangalore before he became the superstar he is or that Tamannah developed an app for iPhone before the acting bug bit her? Here’s a look at what celebrities did before they became famous.
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Kiara Advani
Kiara Advani used to take care of kids at the pre-school and this was her first job. “I sang nursery rhymes, made them learn alphabets and numbers and even changed their diapers,†she said in an interview.
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Parineeti Chopra
Parineeti was a marketing intern at Yash Raj Films before her acting talent was discovered right there.
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Sonam Kapoor
This star kid proved that she has some major acting chops with “Neerja”. Many people also know that she used to be an assistant director for Sanjay Leela Bhansali in “Black”. But, did you know that Sonam used to waitress at the age of 15?Â
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Sonakshi Sinha
Before she got discovered for Salman Khan’s “Dabangg”, Sonakshi started her career as a costume designer. She designed costumes for the film “Mera Dil Leke Dekho” in 2005.
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Taapsee Pannu
Although the “Naam Shabana” actress didn’t actually pursue a career in engineering, she is an engineering graduate and even developed an app called FontSwap. It was a first-of-it’s-kind app and allowed iPhone uses to change fonts.Â
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Smriti Irani
This TV bahu-turned politician had a very rough beginning in showbiz. After losing the Femina Miss India contest in her youth, Smriti was forced to work as a floor scrubber at McDonalds before becoming the Tulsi that all “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” fans know and love.Â
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Rakhi Sawant
This item dancer began working as young as 10 just to make ends meet for her family. She was initially a caterer, before working as a bar dancer in Mumbai. This then slowly transitioned into her making appearances in music videos and B-grade films.Â
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Madhavan
Madhavan taught courses on public speaking and personality development skills, before making a portfolio to pursue his passion for acting in Mumbai.
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John Abraham
Before he could make profit off of his modelling and acting career, the handsome hunk who is an MBA-holder, used to work as a media planner for Enterprises-Nexus.Â
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Dharmendra
The Action King of Bollywood initially worked in American Drilling Company, boring tubewells, before moving to Mumbai. It was a long wait before he got to realise his dreams of becoming a star in the Hindi film industry,Â
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Ranveer Singh
Ranveer was a copywriter in advertising before Bollywood happened to him. He worked in renowned agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson.
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Shah Rukh Khan
King Khan of B-Town used to work as an attendant at concerts in Delhi.
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Rajinikanth
The Tamil superstar was a bus conductor with the Banglore Transport Service before he started doing stage plays.
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Amitabh Bachchan
Big B’s first job was as an executive with a shipping firm, Shaw Wallace. After that he worked as a freight broker for a shipping firm called Bird and Co.
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Dev Anand
Before he drove girls crazy with his style and acting, Dharam Devdutt Pishorimal Anand worked as a clerk. He worked at a military censor office at Churchgate, Mumbai, for a wage of Rs. 165.
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Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Born to a farmers’ family in UP, Nawazuddin had initially worked a chemist before moving to Delhi as taking up the job of a watchman. During his time in Delhi he developed an interest in theatre and joined the National School of Drama. The rest, as they say, is history.Â
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Amrish Puri
The late actor had come to Mumbai to follow footsteps of his elder brothers – Madan Puri and Chaman Puri, who were already well-known in Bollywood for playing negative characters. But after he failed his first screen test, Amrish Puri took up a government job with Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
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Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Bhatia was a waiter and a chef in a hotel in Bangkok, before he moved back to Mumbai and became the Khiladi Kumar of Bollywood.
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Dilip Kumar
Yusuf Khan was a canteen owner as well as a fruit seller before becoming the tragedy king of Bollywood and being rechristened as Dilip Kumar.
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Balraj Sahni
Balraj Sahni held a double masters (MA) in English and he joined Tagore’s Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, Bengal, as a teacher along with his wife before turning to acting. He also worked at Mahatma Gandhi’s Sewagram ashram in Wardha, before sailing off to London to join BBC-London’s Hindi service as a radio announcer.
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Mehmood
Bollywood’s veteran comedian was a driver, a poultry seller and even a table tennis teacher before he became a full-time actor.Â
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Arshad Warsi
Warsi was a door-to-door cosmetics salesman, and later even worked at a photo lab before Bollywood happened to him.Â
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Boman Irani
Virus of “3 Idiots” was a waiter and a room service attendant at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel before turning to acting.
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Gulzar
Before becoming an acclaimed writer and taking on the pen name Gulzar, Sampooran Singh Kalra worked in a garage giving paint jobs to cars. Yes, Gulzar worked in a Mumbai garage touching up cars that had met with accidents.
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Mani Ratnam
Before finding his true calling behind the camera, Mani Ratnam, who holds an MBA degree, worked as a management consultant in a firm in Madras.
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Shivaji Satam
Indian TV’s legendary ACP Pradyuman worked as a cashier in a bank before he got his break in acting.Â
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Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Before turning to Bollywood, Mehra was an ad filmmaker, and even before that he was a vacuum cleaner salesman. Yes, “Rang De Basanti” director was selling vacuum cleaners for Eureka Forbes.
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Randeep Hooda
Randeep studied in Melbourne, Australia, where he earned his master’s degree in business management and human resource management. While he was there, he worked in a Chinese restaurant, a car-wash, waited tables, and drove a taxi for two years. After coming back to India in 2000, he worked in the marketing department of an airline.
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