As told to Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 27, 2019)

My first pay cheque was for Rs 300 which I got playing for the Under-16 cricket team for Delhi. To make some more money, I signed a contract to play English county cricket for various clubs. We would get around 50 pounds for a game and since the money came immediately it was a big deal.

I would even help prepare the pitch, operating the roller, because I got paid extra for that. When it started raining, I would help pull the covers over the pitch and got more, something as much as five to ten pounds. So, I would keep hoping for a shower on the day of the match.

I booked myself for maximum games and would even help the coaches. During this time, I would wear my father’s (legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi; pictured on right) shoes from his cricketing days. It wasn’t just for the nostalgia but because it made me feel like my father was with me all the time.

Every ground had a small bar and I helped serve the orders. I made two to three pounds for every table. After the place shut, we would pool all the tips we had earned and the kitty would be equally divided between all of us. These tips would help buy two meals at a restaurant and taught me how to value money.

I also learnt how to live on my own and manage the house. Detergent is expensive in UK, so four-five boys would share a packet. We washed our own clothes because the laundry was expensive. Whatever we saved, we used to buy something for ourselves or simply take it back home to splurge on the family. I still have some of those notes and coins, British currency fascinates me.

I enjoyed the English weather, no matter how erratic it was. It helped escape the heat back home and also got me some match practice. That was my life from 16 to 21.

Eventually though instead of following in my father’s steps and becoming a cricketer, I decided to pursue a career in acting. Subsequently, I shifted base to Mumbai. It’s an expensive city, I had to pay the rent for my pad and also all the bills. Someone suggested modelling and I decided to give it a shot.

Model-choreographer Marc Robinson spotted me and gave me a break at a fashion week. I did my first modelling job for free. But on my second assignment, I would do three shows and earned Rs 7,000 a day. I needed the money to survive in Mumbai.

Then, I landed my first film, Remo D’souza’s comedy F.A.L.T.U. which featured Jackky Bhagnani, Riteish Deshmukh, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Puja Gupta and me in the lead, and Arshad Warsi, Akbar Khan and Darshan Jariwala in supporting roles. The film opened on April 1, 2011 and I was paid Rs 3.50 lakh. I was ecstatic!

Unfortunately, after that I did not get any more films. I made a guest appearance in Anil (Kapoor) sir’s television series 24 which earned me Rs 10,000 a day. Then, I was offered Shoojit Sircar’s courtroom drama Pink. It marked the entry of Bengal’s National Award-winning director, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, in Hindi films. The film which also featured Mr Bachchan (Amitabh), Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tairang, was a role with shades of grey. Pink made “No means no” the catchphrase of the nation and was a hit. Ali Abbas Zafar saw it and signed me to play Namit Khan, an expert at defusing bombs, in Tiger Zinda Hai, the Salman Khan franchise. And the rest, as they say, is history.


A young Angad on the field