Ranbir Kapoor
may be belonging to the legacy of the great
Raj Kapoor
and is Rishi and Neetu Kapoor’s son, yet, his father was always very strict with him when it came to money. In a recent interview, Ranbir has recalled how his father
Rishi Kapoor
always kept him on a strict budget when he was studying abroad. That made a huge impact on the actor.
The actor was sent to
New York
to study acting.
He went to the
Lee Strasberg Theatre
and Film Institute. But during his time there, he was put on a very strict budget. “By then, I was very eager to come back and start work. I felt like I had gotten the experience of America. It was not really the college experience but the exposure of talking to people from all over the world and living alone. My father had kept me on a very tight budget. Of course, when I say tight budget, I am still coming from a
privileged background
, but it was enough to have a McDonald’s dollar menu meal for lunch and dinner. So, it was like $2 for lunch and $2 for dinner. It was as strict as that, even though I come from a privileged background,” said Ranbir on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast.
He further revealed that his father never addressed why he put him on strict financial limits. “But I think he wanted me to live like a student and not a superstar’s son. Maybe it was to teach the value of money,” said the actor. His father wanted to train him about what hardship is in life. “You are too moisturised, you need to see what hardship is,” added Ranbir.
In the same interview, Ranbir recalled his college days in Mumbai, where he picked up the habit of smoking. “HR College reminds me of smoking because that was the first time I bought a packet of cigarettes. You smoke with your friends outside the college and you feel grown up. It’s the first time you are wearing your own clothes and not a school uniform,” said Ranbir.