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Paresh Ganatra opens up acting career. (Photo: Paresh Ganatra/Instagram)
Actor Paresh Ganatra, known for his work in films like Delhi Belly, Welcome, Rowdy Rathore, No Entry and others, recently spoke about leaving his cushy job to become an actor. Paresh shared that for a long time he kept working while juggling his acting career and even reached the position of Assistant Vice President (AVP) in his job but eventually left it all to pursue acting full time.
He shared that after working in theatre, he got his first film, the Aamir Khan and Anil Kapoor starrer Mann, but the film was a disaster. He then bagged the Amitabh Bachchan-led multi-starrer Aankhen, which helped him catch filmmaker Anees Bazmee’s attention, who cast him in No Entry, escalating his career overnight.
He recalled, “Aankhen was an average hit, and from there, Anees bhai called me for No Entry. I was still doing job till then, and I didn’t get a great offer after Aankhen which would make me leave my job and while this was happening, I was working as an AVP, I was drawing a salary in lakhs back in 2000s. I had a chauffeur-driven car, mobile and other bills paid off. Everything was given by the company. In fact in 2004, when I was offered No Entry, I had that job.” He said the company was among the top 10 companies in India at that time.
After No Entry’s success, Paresh left the comfort of his job to pursue acting full time but only ended up getting stereotyped. “After No Entry, I got 16 films in three days but I didn’t do a single film because the character was the same in which you go around the heroine and the lead actor comes and slaps you. I didn’t do those films because I thought that if I had to do these type of characters, then my job was better. Today if I was in that job, I would have been earning 10 times more than what I am earning as an actor. Because I left my job when I was an AVP, and by this time, I would have been an MD.”
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