Raghubir Yadav recalls surviving on Rs 2.5 a day: ‘Would eat roti with chutney’

5 min readMumbaiJun 13, 2026 10:19 AM IST

Raghubir Yadav is one of the finest actors of Bombay Cinema.

There are very few actors who bring the kind of effortless depth and lived-in realism to the screen that Raghubir Yadav does. While a newer generation may recognise him instantly from his memorable turn in the acclaimed Prime Video series Panchayat, his body of work stretches far beyond one role. With a career spanning over five decades, he has remained one of those rare performers whose craft continues to evolve. Yet, the journey to widespread recognition has been anything but straightforward.

‘I never considered my life a struggle’

Recently, the veteran actor reflected on that long and often difficult path. He spoke about surviving on as little as Rs 2.5 a day, sleeping hungry, and spending nearly two decades away from home as he navigated the uncertain world of the film industry. Despite the hardship, he resists framing it as suffering. In a chat with ABP Live, he said, “Acting is not easy, but it is enjoyable. People call it a struggle, but I never considered my life a struggle. I worked hard and enjoyed the process.” Expanding on that thought, he also addressed how the idea of “struggle” is often romanticised when it comes to artistes. “Every art form demands practice. Whether you are a musician, dancer or actor, you have to keep learning and rehearsing. Even today, I feel there is so much left to learn. For me, life has always been a school, a place of learning,”

He also revealed how his academic journey took an early turn that would eventually redirect his life entirely. Pressured to pursue science in the hope of a stable future, he soon realised he was unlikely to clear his board examinations. That realisation led him to make a decisive move. “I already knew I was going to fail,” he recalled. Worried about the outcome, he decided to leave home with a friend and eventually landed in Lalitpur, where a theatre company run by actor Annu Kapoor’s father was performing.

Surviving on Rs 2.5 a day

What followed were his earliest days in theatre. He was taken into the company run by Madanlal Kapoor for Rs 2.5 a day. Even that modest amount, however, was not always consistent. “I was supposed to earn Rs 2.5 a day, but sometimes I received even less. We would buy flour and tomatoes, make rotis and chutney and survive,” he said. On certain days, circumstances became even harsher, when someone would steal their food and leave them with nothing.

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Yet, he does not describe the period with bitterness. Instead, he sees it as foundational. Those years, he says, shaped his understanding of the medium. It was during this time that he learned Urdu, refined his pronunciation, and immersed himself deeply in music and theatre. He also recalled a deeply personal moment from that phase of life, when he wrote to his father after leaving home, assuring him that he would never bring shame to the family. Although he briefly returned after six months, a remark from a relative altered his course once again. “He said, ‘We thought we’d only see you on a cinema screen.’ I felt so embarrassed that I left again the same night,” the actor recalled. After that, he stayed away from his village for nearly 20 years.

He continues to reinterpret what many would call struggle through a very different lens. For him, even failure carried its own direction. “Even today, I consider failing in science one of the greatest blessings of my life. Had I not failed, I might never have become an actor,” he said.

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Few years ago, Rohit Roy shared an inspiring video featuring Raghubir Yadav, where he said, “What is a struggle? There is no struggle in life. The struggle was when you had to go to school. If you would have thought that that was a struggle, you would have never learnt anything in life. This is not struggle, this is your hard work and you are learning with it. If you will not do it, you will not reach anywhere. So, if you call learning something a struggle, then it’s unfair.”

About Raghubir Yadav

Raghubir Yadav is best known for his work in films like Salaam Bombay, Lagaan, Peepli Live, Piku, Newton, among others. He first gained fame with the Doordarshan show Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne in 1989.