This celebrity, who was a tailor and earlier resided in Chawl, has now amassed four films worth Rs 200 crores

Many celebrities, like Jackie Shroff, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, and Shah Rukh Khan, experienced hardship as children before going on to enjoy opulent lives and dominate Bollywood via their films. Once a tailor, another such celebrity has amassed a net worth in the crore range.

The actor in question is renowned for his lavish, beautiful film sets and is one of Bollywood’s most successful directors and producers. Every actor hopes to collaborate with him at least once. He is Sanjay Leela Bhansali, that much is clear.

Now a well-known figure in Bollywood, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is responsible for many classic movies, including Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Khamoshi, and others. Few people are aware, however, that he was raised in extreme poverty. He previously disclosed in an interview that as a youngster, he and his family lived in a one-bedroom chawl.

“From the lack of beauty in my growing years, in my formative years,” the director said. We occupied a pretty modest home. The walls weren’t painted at all. Mom would dance in that limited area since she was an amazing dancer. We lacked appropriate clothing. I was thus deprived of many things as a youngster, and I always thought like a filmmaker. As a youngster, when I sat down to do my schoolwork, I used to worry what color the wall should be. Finding beauty in that lack of beauty, or lack of space, was all that was on my mind. That’s why my sets are massive. All of us were packed inside… Nearly inhaling each other.”

Sanjay and his mother discussed their means of subsistence in a 2002 interview with Simi Garewal. They disclosed that they would gather sarees from a neighboring store and sew falls onto them. “Shaam ko jaake sarees leke aate the hum dukan se aur raat tak baith ke fall lagate the,” the director said. We had to deal with the fact that there were four sarees, twelve sarees, and twenty-four sarees. We would go to a local saree store in the evening and pick out sarees from there, and stitch would fall upon them till late at night. We might sometimes get four sarees, one at a time, or twenty-four).

With Salman Khan in the lead role in Khamoshi: The Musical, the director made his Bollywood directorial debut after beginning his career as an assistant to Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The movie was a huge hit and brought him notoriety. Then, he co-wrote Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam with Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, which went on to become a national smash and win a national award.

Over his career, he has produced numerous successful films and directed four films with global box office receipts above Rs 200 crore: Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela (Rs 218 crore), Padmaavat (Rs 585 crore), Bajirao Mastani (Rs 362 crore), and Gangubai Kathiawadi (Rs 211 crore). According to reports, his net worth is now Rs 940 crore.

With Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali will make his OTT debut. Along with Fardeen Khan, Adhyayan Suman, and Shekhar Suman in important roles, the series stars Richa Chadha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Sonakshi Sinha, and Sanjeeda Shaikh. May 1st is when the series will debut on Netflix.