Ravi Kishan, who has been riding high on the success of Laapataa Ladies and his Netflix series Maamla Legal Hai, recently opened up about his childhood and shared that he comes from an excessively poor household. Ravi opened up about those days and shared that at one point, they lived in a hut made of mud, and shared one plate of khichdi between 12 people. Ravi said that poverty is ingrained in his DNA to an extent that now, when he is well to do, he still can’t order freely at a luxury restaurant because his middle-class nature does not allow him to do so
In a chat with Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube channel, Ravi shared that he “crawled” to get out of “extreme poverty.” “I used to live in a hut made of mud. We had responsibilities, our farm land was mortgaged.” He continued, “I have seen excessive poverty. The kind where one khichdi is shared by 12 people, and that too, after watering it down.” Ravi recalled that when he moved to Mumbai, he would live on vada pav and tea, and went for 15 years in the movies without a proper, dignified pay.
“I have faced extreme humiliation. People get humiliated a couple of times, I have faced it thousands of times. All of this has made Ravi Kishan who he is,” he said. Ravi Kishan has done over 750 films across various film industries. He is also a successful politician.
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Ravi was also asked why he dropped Shukla from his surname and the actor said, “Because I couldn’t find work with the name Shukla.” He added that making money was of paramount importance at the time so he did not bother about his surname, and never went into the details of why dropping his surname seemed like a necessary move at the time. “I never went into the details. It was Ravi Kishan Shukla. Now you have Saurabh Shukla, Tripathi, and Bajpayee, but this wasn’t the case back then,” he said and repeated that “surname did not matter” and he was “desperate to find work.”
He further spoke about his situation and shared that even today, when he goes to a 7-star hotel, he just can’t allow himself to order expensive food, no matter who is paying for it. “I still order khichdi. I am still hesitant about giving my clothes for laundry. I feel like I can get them washed at home when I come back. That poverty is still a part of me. That middle-class Ravi Kishan has still not left me,” he said and added that he encourages his family members to spend money on themselves, and is happy to pay for whatever luxury item they want to buy. But he can’t spend money on himself and often, it is his family members who buy him clothes, mobile phones or other luxury items.
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