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Kiran Rao confesses feature films didn’t pay for her survival in Mumbai; reveals what actually did when she began her career
Kiran Rao has looked back at her early years in her career and revealed that the feature films couldn't pay for her survival in Mumbai but what actually did was her advertising gigs.
Filmmaker Kiran Rao is currently enjoying the success of her recently released movie Laapataa Ladies. The movie has opened up to massive praise both in theatres and on OTT. For the unversed, before venturing into filmmaking Kiran used to work as an assistant director but it didn’t really help her finances.
If not feature films then what helped Kiran Rao survive in her early years?
Recently while speaking on Cyrus Broacha's YouTube channel, Kiran Rao revealed that despite working on many popular movies as an AD, she wasn’t able to make enough money for her survival in Mumbai. It was advertising that helped her find a financial foot in Mayanagri.
She shared, “I used to be a gig economy worker. I would get a job, work as long as it paid, and then look for another job, worrying whether my savings would last and if I could pay rent.” When Cyrus recalled she also worked as an AD at Aamir Khan's Lagaan wondering if that’d have paid her well, Kiran revealed, “Feature films didn’t pay. It was advertising that paid me the money to live in Mumbai. With Lagaan, the first AD system kind of started coming in.”
ALSO READ: Laapataa Ladies surpasses Animal's Netflix viewership, Kiran Rao is stunned
When advertising gigs came into her life, Kiran was finally able to afford “super expensive things” including a computer and a car.
In the same interview, Kiran confessed to having bought her first car from her father. “He sold it to me for Rs 1 lakh. Have you ever heard of that? My father was like, ‘This is the only way you will save money.’ We drove it from Bangalore to Mumbai on the newly minted expressway”, Kiran detailed.
Kiran Rao shares the struggles of being an assistant director in Lagaan
Kiran confessed to facing a challenging experience on the sets of Lagaan revealing she used to get coffee and get shouted at if anything went wrong. “I was constantly being yelled at. Reema Kagti was a tough secondary AD; she would constantly be on my case. She did all the running around. We were just four ADs running around on a giant set”, the Dhobi Ghat director signed off.
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