This star left home as a teenager with just Rs 300, now charges crores per project.
As far as rags to riches stories go, there are plenty in the film industry. Many strugglers have left homes, armed with nothing but their dreams and talent, in the hope of making it big. Many have faltered, some have failed, but a lot have succeeded too. One such success story is of the man who once ran away from his home with just Rs 300 in his pocket, but today charges over Rs 100 crore for a film. That man is KGF star Yash!
Yash’s humble beginnings and career struggles
Born in a middle-class family in a village called Hassan in Karnataka, Yash’s legal name is Naveen. His mother’s family named him Yashwanth, which he eventually shortened to get his stage name later in his career. Yash was interested in acting since his school days and would often participate in theatre and dance competitions as a kid. At 16, he left home to go to Bangalore to be an assistant director of a project that was eventually cancelled. With just Rs 300 with him, Yash joined a theatre troupe as a backup dancer, where he was paid Rs 50 per day.
Yash’s initial roles and film debut
In 2004, at the age of 18, he managed to play lead role in a play for the troupe. Continuing his education side by side, the actor completed his Bachelor of Arts at Bangalore’s K.L.E. College. In 2005, he played a role in the teleserial Nanda Gokula, where he met his future wife Radhika Pandit. He went on to appear in TV shows like Male Billu and Preeti Illada Mele. In 2007, he made his film debut with a supporting role in Jambada Hudugi. The following year, he played his first lead role in a film in the flop Rocky.
Yash’s stardom in Karnataka and pan-India
In the early 2010s, Yash began tasting success with hits in the Kannada industry, with films like Lucky and Jaanu. But it was after Googly in 2013 that he began to be considered among the leading actors in the industry. In 2014, he starred in Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari, which became his first film to gross Rs 50 crore.
In 2018, he appeared in Prasanth Neel’s KGF Chapter 1, an action thriller, which broke all box office records. Grossing Rs 250 crore, it became the highest-grossing Kannada film ever and even did well in the Hindi circuits. It’s 2022 sequel KGF Chapter 2 was what firmly established Yash as a pan-India star. The film is one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever and it’s Hindi-dubbed version alone left behind several Bollywood films. The films’ success has turned Yash into a sought-after star nationally. Having been paid Rs 25 crore per film for KGF, the actor can now reportedly charge in excess of Rs 100 crore for a project.
