When Asrani and his FTII batchmates complained to Indira Gandhi about not having work: ‘She went to Mumbai and told producers…’

But more unpleasant realisations were in store for Asrani, who discovered that a certificate from FTII was worthless in Bollywood, and so, he returned to the institute as a professor to make ends meet. He said in Hindi, “I would roam around with my certificate, and they would shoo me away and say, ‘You think acting requires certificates? Big stars don’t have training here, and you think you’re special? Get lost.'”

He continued, “For two years, I was struggling to find work. One day, Indira Gandhi came to Pune. She was the I&B minister at the time. And we complained to her. We told her that despite having a certificate, nobody gives us the time of day. Then she came to Mumbai and told producers that they should hire us. After that, work started coming in. Jaya Bhaduri was cast in Guddi, as was I. When Guddi became a hit, people started taking FTII seriously.”

Asrani admitted that a formal education isn’t necessary for an actor, and cited the example of Dilip Kumar, who would spend months at film studios observing people work. He also recalled what Ashok Kumar told him about ‘training’, and said that the legendary actor would study his own performances for long hours, and would teach himself on how to improve.