Rajkummar Rao has opened up on the struggles he had to brave before he made it big in Bollywood. The Made in China actor, considered among the most talented in the Hindi film industry, said in an interview to Pinkvilla that there were times when he would have only Rs 18 in his account.

“It used to be tough times for me. I come from a very humble middle class background and there was a time in school when I didn’t have money and my teachers paid my school fees for two years,” the actor said, adding, “When I came to the city, we were living in a really small house. I was paying Rs 7000 of my share which I thought was too much.

I needed around 15-20000 every month to survive and there were times I would get a notification that I have only 18 rupees left in my account. My friend would have 23 rupees.”

With little to survive on, Rajkummar would have nothing to even eat. “There’s a friend of mine Vinod – who’s also an actor and we used to travel for auditions on our bikes. I knew nothing about the presentation of how to look, what to wear. With the pollution around, we would just get down and clean other’s face with rose water and think that it’s the best version of ourselves.”

Rajkummar, whose dad passed away last month, had recently said that his parents were happiest that he made as an actor.