Rupali Ganguly, who is currently ruling the small screen with her role in and as Anupamaa, has not had it easy in life. Things were not always this way for the actress. During an interview with ETimes TV, Rupali opened up about the time when her family had to face financial issues and she had to work as a waitress and at boutiques to support them.
She shared, “My father was filmmaker Anil Ganguly, who made films with a lot of passion. During those days films were made with a lot of passion and in fact houses were sold for the sake of it. Unfortunately, two or 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 at 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. 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 at 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.”
Interestingly her first audition was for Rajan Shahi, who is also the producer of Anupamaa. Rupali walked from Worli to Andheri to give the audition. “My first television show was also with Rajan Shahi titled ‘Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi’. That I did everything that came my way like ads, and catalog shoots. I remember when I had come to audition for Rajan’s show at that time he had made a pilot with some other actress in 1999 and she wanted to do films. So Rajan’s show was approved, they had a time slot but they didn’t have their lead actress.”
She added, “I remember I came walking from Worli to Andheri for the audition because I didn’t have money to buy bus tickets. I was so tired by the time I reached that I just auditioned. I had that one chance and I goofed up and felt terrible. Then I heard someone discussing the storyline that it is a double role. I got very excited. I went back to Rajan Shahi and requested him to give me one more chance. He was very reluctant but I pushed him. He called me the next day and again I had to walk back. I came to Juhu and took a bus from there the next day. Next day, I came back and I auditioned. He gave me the first scene and then he asked me to do six scenes back to back. The rest is history. I started my journey from there on.”