Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe share their experiences of hardships during their time in Mumbai. The couple, who recently appeared in Scoop, shed light on their challenging journey.
Actor couple Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe recently talked about the time when they moved to Mumbai from Delhi with ₹40,000. While they thought that the money would be sufficient, it wasn’t. The two recently starred in Hansal Mehta’s Scoop. Zeeshan said a broker in the new city scammed them and left them with no money and it was actor Vineet Kumar who stepped in and helped them with a work offer.
More about Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe
Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe are married for 16 years now. Both attended the National School of Drama and later shifted to Mumbai when they were just 24. The two are currently basking in the success of Scoop.
On struggling days
In an interview with Siddharth Kanan, Rasika said she thought she is a Marathi actress, so people would be “waiting” for her. On the other hand, Zeeshan was planning for some course in the US and wanted to be an acting teacher. While both of their plans did not work, Rasika said, “We have seen the phase of no money, almost zero money. We got married at 24, so we were very naive. We thought ₹40,000 will be enough to survive in Mumbai. It got over on the second day in deposit and rent. We saw that time together, but I don’t remember us ever being sad. It was a one room house, we would still have fun, friends would come over for tea. Now the house is bigger, but evenings are still for tea and friends.”
On being scammed
Zeeshan revealed how a broker left them with no money when asked to deposit three-month rent, instead of one. “It was a tiny house, with a terrace, where we would just dry clothes and use it for nothing else. He took our money, so we were actually down to zero money in the city. I remember once we were sitting together and laughing, thinking hum kitne bewakoof hai, kya sochke aagaye hai (how naïve we were to shift to Mumbai), what will happen now?” It was actor Vineet Kumar who helped him with work and told him to write a syllabus for an acting school. “Vineet bhai asked me to get a printout of it and submit it to the man. I didn’t even have ₹2 for the printout, so we searched for coins in the house and somehow managed to find. I submitted the syllabus, and the man handed me ₹15000 cash.,” he added.
The two struggled for quite some time as Rasika took up double shifts. Eventually, Zeeshan started getting film offers. He rose to fame with Aanand L Rai’s Raanjhanaa and went on to star in films like Tanu Weds Manu: Returns, Raees, Tandav and now Scoop.
Disclaimer: Except the headline and synopsis, this story has been taken from the HT News Service