Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub talks about his days of struggle after moving to Mumbai, says, ‘didn’t even have Rs 2 for…’

Bollywood actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who is best known for his roles in movies like Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and Ranjhannaa and web series like Scoop and more, recently opened up about his days of struggle after he came to Mumbai. The actor recalled surviving on 'zero money' with his wife Rasika Agashe who is also a popular actress. 

In an interview with Siddharth Kanan, Zeeshan Ayyub's wife Rasika Agashe opened up on his days of struggle and revealed that they came to Mumbai with just Rs 40000 which was spent just the second day and said, "We have seen the phase of no money, almost zero money. We got married at 24, so we were very naive. We thought Rs 40,000 will be enough to survive in Mumbai. It got over on the second day in deposit and rent. We saw that time together, but I don’t remember us ever being sad. It was a one-room house, we would still have fun, and friends would come over for tea. Now the house is bigger, but evenings are still for tea and friends."

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub revealed that they were scammed by a broker who asked them to deposit three months' rent when ideally they were required to pay for only one. he further revealed that this led to them being left with 'zero money'. The actor added, "It was a tiny house, with a terrace, where we would just dry clothes and use it for nothing else. He took our money, so we were actually down to zero money in the city. I remember once we were sitting together and laughing, thinking hum kitne bewakoof hai, kya sochke aagaye hai, what will happen now? Actor Vineet Kumar was the one to help, he figured we were new and perhaps didn’t have money." 

He added, "He asked me if I know how to teach acting and then said someone is keen to open an acting school, so I should write a syllabus of three months and give it to him. I wrote it overnight and then Vineet bhai asked me to get a printout of it and submit it to the man. I didn’t even have Rs 2 for the printout, so we searched for coins in the house and somehow managed to find them. I submitted the syllabus, and the man handed me Rs 1500 cash. That’s how we started." Zeeshan said that though he started getting films like No One Killed Jessica and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, but since he was a new actor, the pay wasn’t that much. 

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe were recently seen in Hansal Mehta's web series Scoop which also stars Harman Baweja and Karishma Tanna. The web series was based on Jigna Vora’s biographical book Behind The Bars In Byculla: My Days in Prison.