Bollywood superstars who almost gave up acting: Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif

Ever landed a dream job only to discover mid first-week it may not be the right fit? Looks like even Bollywood stars are not immune from job anxiety. Here’s a look at some who almost succumbed to the stress and walked away from the big screen. You won’t believe who’s on this list.

Aamir Khan almost quit the acting gig because of homesickness. He recently revealed in an interview that during the COVID-19-imposed lockdown period he told his nears and dears, ““I felt it (cinema) took me away from my family. I told my family I will quit, not act, produce films. I told them I want to be with you all. It was responsive anger. My family was shocked.” Fortunately there was an intervention once the shock wore off. And so, all is well.

Talk about a blow to self-confidence. When Shah Rukh Khan saw the first snippet of his movie ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman’, he was aghast at how he looked. He was quoted as saying by Indian news agency IANS, “When I saw myself for the first time onscreen, this was for the rushes. Rushes are dailies. You shoot the scenes and you see the negatives. That was the time when we had negatives. So, I was looking at Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman rushes in RK Studio. And I realised I am so ugly." "My hair was so bad! I was doing pathetic acting in front actors such as Nana Patekar, Amrita Singh and Juhi Chawla. Around 4ish, there used to be a flight of Air India that offered 25 per cent discount. I used to get those tickets back in the days. I bought one and went to airport realising that I cannot be an actor. However, Juhi and Aziz (director Aziz Mirza) convinced me saying 'Final would be better'," Shah Rukh Khan said.

Actors generally pride themselves on being able to slip into their character’s skins, but when Katrina Kaif saw ‘Namaste London’ in 2007, she thought she’d made a huge blunder and there was a lot of her in the role. On an episode of Karan Johar’s chat show, she admitted, “When I saw the film, I was terrified. I just saw too much of me in the film and you start believing what people say. I was like, ‘No, no, no, people can’t see me in a film, they won’t watch the film, it’s a disaster. This is over, my life is over.’ I was like, ‘I am packing my bags and I am going to find a new career’.”

Hrithik Roshan started out his movie career with the hit film ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’. However, a knee injury almost caused him to quit working as an actor. “I worked on ‘Kites’ only for seven months. Before that I was trying to treat my knee. For six months there was no sign of recovering from my knee pain. That time I thought either I will turn to singing or direct a film,” he said.

Abhishek Bachchan, the son of veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, has had lots of ups and downs in the movie industry and hasn’t been afraid of being honest about it — even about the time he almost quit. “At one point in time, I felt it was my mistake that I came into the industry as whatsoever I was trying, it was not working. I went to my dad and said maybe I am not made for this industry,” he said, adding that his famous father gave him the correct advice.