Today, Kiran Rao, a successful director-filmmaker in Bollywood, has gone through days of struggle. She has not only been an assistant director in many films but has also worked in Oscar nominated film projects like Lagaan. In an episode of Cyrus Says Podcast, he talked about his Bollywood journey. He told that his initial days as an AD in Mumbai were very difficult.

Kiran Rao’s days of struggle

When Kiran Rao started working in Mumbai, he had to change many jobs so that he could meet his expenses. Kiran Rao said, ‘Initially I was a gig worker. I used to do whatever job I got, as long as I got money, I kept working. Then I had to search for the next job and I was afraid whether my savings would be left by then or not, would I be able to pay the rent?

While talking about his work in Lagaan and financial rewards, he said that I did not get much money in feature films, so to live in Mumbai, I earned money from advertisements. With Lagaan, for the first time there was an AD like system for me.

Kiran Rao said that at that time he had bought his first car for Rs 1 lakh with the money he got from advertising. I bought the car from my dad. My father was like this.

Kiran, who has made films like Lapata Daddies and Dhobi Ghat, said, ‘The day on the sets of Lagaan used to start at 4.30 in the morning. Had to work in long shifts. Managing hair-makeup of such a huge cost was no less than a logistical nightmare.

Let us tell you that Kiran Rao was married to Aamir Khan. He also has a son from this marriage. However, now they have taken divorce.