Despite working with Shah Rukh Khan in Baazigar, co-star couldn’t even afford milk for his baby at one point

Shah Rukh Khan's co-star in Baazigar, Adi Irani, struggled to make ends meet at one point in his career, despite having worked with A-list actors.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | March 15, 2025 05:14 PM IST

3 min read

Adi Irani and Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Baazigar.

Baazigar, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Shilpa Shetty, was a huge box office hit, amassing a worldwide gross of Rs 32 crore on a Rs 4 crore budget. While many members of its star cast would go on to become megastars of the Hindi film industry, Adi Irani, who played the role of Vicky Malhotra, seemingly fell through the cracks. In a recent interview with Filmytantra Media, Adi Irani recalled his struggles post films like Anari (1993) and Baazigar (1993). “My first daughter was born in 1995, and at that point in time, milk cost Rs 5, and sometimes I did not even have that. Every day I had to go out into the city and meet people for jobs and roles, and I had borrowed my friend’s scooter. Sometimes I did not even have money to fill up the tank,” said the actor.

“I used to walk from my house to the bus stop on the days I couldn’t afford petrol. People used to ask me, ‘What are you doing at a bus stop?’ and I used to lie and say that I was just waiting for a friend. They used to say, ‘Why would you need to travel on a bus?’ And then I used to sneak home,” recalled the actor.

He also mentioned how he did not have a phone at his house, and had a nearby PCO booth take his messages for him. “I used to pay the guy Rs 1 for each message he got for me and an additional rupee to call back.” The actor added that he said yes to a lot of uncredited extra roles because he needed the money.

When asked about whether his sister, actor Aruna Irani, knew about his situation, he said, “My sister knew about my situation and offered her help many times, but I refused. I am her brother, but that doesn’t mean that she will take care of me all her life; that was my own struggle, and moreover, she had a family of her own to care for.”

The actor also mentioned the role of his wife and how she helped him recover from the bad times. “People should look up to my wife; without her, I would have never gotten back up. Ours being a love marriage, sometimes I used to feel bad for my wife for being stuck with me,” joked the actor.

From the homepage