Ronit Roy didn’t go home, slept for 3-4 hours while filming Kyunki, Kasautii: ‘I was hungry for work, food’

Ronit Roy’s appearances in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kasautii Zindagii Kay in the 2000s remain one of his most popular works even now. The actor recalled that he worked round the clock in those days as he was desperate for work and success. In fact, he just stayed at Balaji Telefilms’ sets for days without going home. Also Read| Ronit once took up a job for ₹1200, even his driver thought it was too less

Ronit Roy starred as Rishabh Bajaj opposite Shweta Tiwari’s Prerna on Kasautii Zindagii Kay. Mr Bajaj was supposed to be in a limited three-month role, but Ronit’s contract was extended due to the character’s popularity. This also landed him in Balaji Telefilms’ Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi as Mihir Virani, a role opposite Smriti Irani’s Tulsi previously played by Amar Upadhyay and Inder Kumar.

In a recent conversation with Mid-Day India, Ronit recalled how his Kasautii Zindagii Kay character received a lot of love from the audience despite being the hurdle between the lead characters Prerna and Anurag (Cezanne Khan). He joked, “I received a lot of love from everybody except Anurag and Prerna. I would often listen, ‘where did you come from, why is he here.’ Obviously no one likes their thunder stolen…The brief given to me was that it’s a three-month role, you have to make your hair salt and pepper. Ekta (Kapoor) said you have to do it because no other actor is ready to put white in their hair at this age. She wanted a younger actor to play an older man in order to get that youthful appearance like Richard Gere.”

He also recalled how his schedule became extremely hectic after he signed Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi as well, both for Ekta Kapoor’s production house. He said, “They said you have to work for 12 hours, in which we will manage both shows. From 7 am to 7 pm, we used to shoot for Kyunki, and then from pm to am, I used to shoot for Kasautii. After a week of shooting, I said ‘Hello, I haven’t gone home for a week. 24 hours I am working, not 12,’ and they said, ‘yes, 12 and 12 (for two shows).’ But I never complained. I had gotten work after 5-6 years. I was hungry for work, hungry for food, hungry for success. Kasautii director Qaeed Kuwajerwala was very helpful; he had a mathematics. He used to shoot a scene with me and then say ‘go sleep for 1 hour’ while I do other people’s work. I used to sleep 3-4 hours in 24 hours. I would have lunch in 5 minutes, then sleep for 45 minutes.”

Ronit Roy was last seen alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt among others in Shamshera. He has Rohit Dhawan’s Shehzada with Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon, and Ali Abbas Zafar and Himanshu Mehra’s Bloody Daddy with Shahid Kapoor, Diana Penty, Rajiv Khandelwal, and Sanjay Kapoor in the pipeline. He will also be seen alongside Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur in Gumrah.