What’s the common trait that Vicky Kaushal, R Madhavan, Kartik Aaryan, Badshah, Taapsee Pannu and Kriti Sanon share? They all studied engineering before opting for Bollywood
They say in India, you first become an engineer and then decide what you want to do with your life. Engineer-turned-cricketer Saurabh Netravalkar reiterates this belief. He was a high-flying software engineer before he secured a spot in the US Cricket Team and left people stunned with his impressive performance. There are other examples. The Hindi film industry has scores of engineers who are now successful actors and directors.
The Tauba Tauba sensation Vicky Kaushal has a bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunications from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Kaushal, who got the National Award for his stellar act in Uri: The Surgical Strike, began his innings in the film world as an assistant director.
Vicky isn’t the only one from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology to make it to the industry. Filmmakers Ayan Mukerji and Ravi Dubey also graduated from the institute to pursue direction and acting, respectively.
Right from Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein sensation R. Madhavan, who is an electronics engineer, to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’s Rooh Baba Kartik Aaryan, who holds a B.Tech in biotechnology, the industry has its fair share of engineers. Interestingly, for Aaryan, having an engineering degree was useful to convince his parents about his plan to pursue acting!
The other famous actors with engineering degrees are Sonu Sood, Riteish Deshmukh and John Abraham. Singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan pursued software engineering before taking the Breathless way! Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai singer Badshah is a civil engineer.
Many of them are from prestigious IITs. Kota Factory actor Jitendra Kumar is an IIT Kharagpur alumnus. TVF Tripling actor Amol Parashar has done mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi. Film writer and director Varun Grover is from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi. Even the Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari is IIT Bombay pass-out.
Not just the actors, actresses like Ameesha Patel, Kriti Sanon and Taapsee Pannu too completed their engineering degrees before making a splash in the film world.
Launch pad
Abhay Pannu, who directed Rockt Boys, says, “My father is an engineer and my hero. So, I followed suit. I studied marine engineering at Maharashtra Institute of Technology. I am not a huge advocate of engineering institutes in our country except for the IITs because times have moved and our institutes haven’t kept pace with it. Still, training as an engineer comes handy in life – personally and professionally. My training helped me in my filmmaking journey. It was easy for me to pick my first project — Rocket Boys. I wanted to tell stories based on science . It was exciting to bring out the lives of scientists on screen. The challenge was to portray them in such a way so that even non-engineers could understand what they were doing and at the same time look credible to those who understood the subject. Engineering teaches problem solving and probably that makes engineers successful in everything they do!”
Attention to detail
Actor Abhishek Sharma narrates his journey, “I pursued my engineering from MM University in Ambala. It was a learning experience. Right from managing finances to forging bonds, my engineering days taught me a lot. Learning 12-13 new subjects in a semester or two helps hone one’s analytical skills. One has to be efficient and also a team player. Thanks to the years of training, an engineer can do things in much less time than a non-engineer would do. Also, paying attention to detail is another aspect that engineers imbibe. These equalities make us stand out in any field that we choose to be in!
