Mumbai2 minutes agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari and Abhinav Tripathi
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The person seen in the picture is actor Rajesh Kumar. You must have seen him in the famous TV show Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. Apart from this, he had an important role in two seasons of the web show Kota Factory.
An actor who was doing well in the world of acting. He got a lot of fame from serials like Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. Also became the winner of the laughter reality show. Life was going well, then one day the thought of doing farming came to me, away from the glare. Took 20 acres of land on rent.
However his luck betrayed him. Sometimes there was flood and sometimes the crops got burnt. All the money was lost and the debt ran into crores. There were two to two and a half thousand rupees left in the pocket. When I felt that nothing was going to happen from farming, I again turned to the film industry.
We are talking about actor Rajesh Kumar. Although Rajesh Kumar has been active in the television and film industry since 1999, in recent years he has been seen in the web series Kota Factory and Yeh Meri Family. Apart from this, he was also seen in the films Haddi, Rautu Ka Raaz and Binny and Family, released on 27 September.
It was evening. We left for Rajesh Kumar’s house. First of all he asked for tea and water. After some conversation we started the interview. Rajesh became emotional several times during the entire interview. He choked several times, but continued to speak about the struggles of life.
Rajesh Kumar’s story in his own words.
Spent my childhood in Bihar, were afraid to use my surname there. Rajesh Kumar first remembered his childhood days. He said, ‘Although I was born in Ranchi, but after my birth, the family shifted to Gaya, Bihar. Studied there till fifth standard. Then the family came to Patna for further studies.
There was so much casteism in Bihar that we were afraid to even use our surname. Father named me Rajesh Khanna. Perhaps he was greatly influenced by Rajesh Khanna. By the way, my real name is Rajesh Kumar Singh. Considering the environment of Bihar, I was sent to Dehradun for further studies.
Rajesh said that even though today he lives in Mumbai, away from Bihar, he still respects the traditions there.
Had to hire bodyguard due to fear of kidnapping ‘The conditions in Bihar were so bad that I had to hire bodyguards with me at the time of marriage. Actually, the wedding took place in Mumbai, but the reception was held in Patna. I had become somewhat famous by that time. Father had good relations with some people in the police department. Lest I get kidnapped, police personnel stayed with me for 2-3 days of the reception.
Rajesh has graduated from Hindu College, Delhi University. Rajesh took special interest in cultural programs since childhood. For this reason, I gradually started getting inclined towards acting. Then in this connection he came to Mumbai.
After coming to Mumbai, he worked in many TV serials. He got a lot of popularity from there. However, there was always a disturbance in the mind. His father and grandfather had always been engaged in farming, so Rajesh Kumar’s mind was also engaged in farming somewhere. Apart from this, he was also associated with Sadhguru’s Rally for Rivers campaign. He got inspiration from there after which he took a break from acting and went to do farming.
Rented 20 acres of land, planted 15 thousand trees which got ruined in the rain. Rajesh says, ‘In April 2019, I started farming with a friend. We rented a 20-acre farm in Palghar, adjacent to Mumbai.
We planted 15 thousand saplings there. There was never any flood in that area, but as luck would have it, it rained a lot that year. All the plants were destroyed. The beginning itself was quite bad. The rain did not stop until October that year.
Rajesh used to share farming related videos on social media every day. Even today he appeals to the people to promote natural farming.
Lockdown was imposed when plants were planted for the second time, this time 75% of the crop got spoiled. ‘When the rains stopped in November, we planted 15 thousand trees again. Only 2-3 months had passed when the Covid lockdown was imposed. Due to the lockdown we were imprisoned in our homes. Couldn’t go to see the fields.
Even if he went one day, the villagers chased him away. They were afraid that we might have brought Corona with us. They came with the police, so we had to run away from there. It started raining again from June to October. This time also about 75% of the crop was damaged. In this way I had to face loss twice.
Helpers also had to be paid salary, started the work of collecting cow dung on their own Rajesh further said, ‘There was a lot of sadness and frustration due to crop failure twice, but it was very important to keep oneself courageous. The farm was on rent, so rent had to be paid every month.
Apart from this, 2-3 farmers were also hired, their wages also had to be arranged. I had moved away from acting, so the money stopped coming. After much deliberation, I gathered the courage to make a third attempt. This time he started doing work like picking cow dung, planting saplings and fertilizing them himself.
Half the crop reduced to ashes due to fire for the third time ‘Somehow I gathered courage and made a third attempt, but due to a phone call my eyes became dark. Someone said that your farm has caught fire. I hurriedly left Mumbai and reached Palghar in one and a half hours.
By the time he reached, half the crop had turned to ashes. Actually, this fire did not start in that field but in my dreams, from which I could not recover. At that time I had only 70 thousand rupees left.
Finally started growing vegetables, set out to sell them myself Apart from those 20 acres, I and my friend had taken another adjacent plot of 5 acres on rent. There we cultivated paddy and wheat. I thought that now I should do a little something in this 5 acres, forget about those 20 acres. Then we started growing vegetables there.
Drowned in debt due to farming, people used to come to his house asking for money ‘My EMIs started bouncing. People with credit cards started coming to the house. Debt worth crores had accrued. There was no money to pay the child’s fees. I didn’t have the courage to even ask for money from my parents. Although he helped me. This reduced the borrowing a little.
Now I started worrying about how to live my life in future. I did not find it necessary to look at the farm again. He came with the desire to do a lot in the field of agriculture, but fate betrayed him.
Rajesh Kumar applying fertilizer in the field. Rajesh has also hosted many agricultural shows.
shaved my head for work Rajesh felt that now nothing was going to happen from farming, so he tried to return to the industry again. He said, ‘I started a comeback in acting. However, due to the same type of image, there was a lot of difficulty in getting work. The weight had also increased a lot.
Meanwhile, I got an offer for the film Haddi. I couldn’t lose this offer, so I agreed to the director’s advice and got my head shaved. Then I did 4 films back to back including Teri Baton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Rauthu Ka Raaz.
Rajesh cried and said- there were only Rs 2500 in the account. The shooting of the recently released film Binny and Family started around 2022. This was the same time when Rajesh was facing financial problems due to losses in farming.
He said, ‘I went to UK for 24 days to shoot this film. This was a bad phase of life. There were only Rs 2500 in my account. The poverty was so great that I could not even bring a single chocolate for the children from there.
Saying this, Rajesh starts crying. Then after some time they start telling the further story.
Rajesh Kumar cried while remembering the days of struggles.
He says, ‘I had shot the film Binny and Family even before Haddi and Teri Baton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, but it has just been released. Series like Kota Factory also have a major role in shaping my career. Now in the coming time I will be seen in the series Freedom at Midnight. I am going to have a major role in this series.
Understand the pain of farmers before asking for free coriander At the end of the interview, Rajesh Kumar said that he is not sad that he lost his money in farming. The only pity is that his work was not understood properly.
They appeal to the government to pay attention to the farmers. There is also a request to the common people to understand the hard work of the farmers. Whenever we go to buy vegetables, we expect to get a bundle of coriander for free. We forget how much hard work it takes for a farmer to grow that one bundle of coriander.
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