Mumbai: Vivek Oberoi, despite being a star kid, had his fair share of struggles before becoming a known face in the industry.
Vivek, who is veteran actor Suresh Oberoi’s son, revealed in a recent episode of Mashable India’s The Bombay Journey that he used to serve tea and sweep floors of rehearsals rooms before becoming an actor.
Without disclosing his surname, Vivek worked as an assistant to choreographer Farah Khan before signing his first film ‘Company’ with Ram Gopal Varma in 2002.
“I used to assist Farah Khan for a long time. I started with cleaning the rehearsal rooms and bringing chai to all the dancers, and from there I went up. I never told anybody who my dad was,” he said.
After his debut film ‘Company’ turned out to be a commercial hit, Vivek was considered to be a rising star in Bollywood.
The actor delivered several hits such as ‘Saathiya’, ‘Masti’ and ‘Omkara’ before his fallout with Salman Khan. His career then came to a standstill.
In a podcast with Prakhar Gupta, Vivek admitted that he faced a boycott in the industry after his feud with Salman.
“A point came during that time where everyone was boycotting me left and right. No one was ready to work with me, and I was thrown out of the films I had already signed. Moreover, I used to get a lot of calls threatening me. These calls were made to my sister, father and mother as well,” he shared.
However, the actor didn’t give up and worked in Malayalam and Telugu films like ‘Rakta Charithra’ and ‘Lucifer’. He also starred in web series ‘Inside Edge.’
In 2013, Vivek delivered two back-to-back hits, namely ‘Grand Masti’ and ‘Krrish 3’.
Today, he is one of India’s richest men with most of the wealth coming from his real estate company, Karma Infrastructure, and his event management company, Mega Entertainment.
Vivek is the only Indian actor to feature in Forbes’ 40 Under-40 Heroes of Philanthropy list.
The actor is currently awaiting the release of ‘Mastiii 4’, scheduled to hit theatres on November 21.
He will also be seen in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Spirit’, along with Prabhas and Triptii Dimri, and Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Ramayana’, which stars Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi and Sunny Deol in lead roles.
