Actress Bhagyashri Borse has opened up about her difficult childhood and the financial struggles her family faced while she was growing up.
The Lenin actress revealed that her father lost his job around the time she was born, forcing the family to go through years of financial instability.
Speaking at Honest Townhall, Bhagyashri said her parents worked tirelessly to support their children despite having very limited resources.
“I have seen a very different side of life since the day I was born. My parents come from a lower-middle-class background,” she said.
“I never saw the kind of stability we have today. I always saw things going wrong for them. But they kept fighting to do the right thing for their children and never gave up, because we came from zero,” she added.
Bhagyashri said she slowly understood the importance of money by watching her parents carefully calculate even the smallest household expenses.
“As a child, you do not understand money. You only think about food, playing outside and enjoying life. But I remember seeing a diary with expenses like Rs 10 for green chillies and Rs 10 for spinach,” she said.
“They would calculate, ‘We have spent Rs 300 this week. How will we manage next week?’ When you see your parents struggle and work so hard for you, it stays with you,” she added.
The actress also recalled an emotional moment when she saw her father asking someone for employment.
“I saw my father request someone, ‘Please give me a job. I have two daughters.’ As a child, you never want to see your father speak like that,” Bhagyashri said.
She said the incident became a major source of motivation in her life.
“I decided that this should never happen to my father again. I wanted to grow up and make sure he could always hold his head high. It was painful, but it inspired me to move forward. Whatever ambition I have is for my parents,” she said.
Bhagyashri was born in Aurangabad and spent seven years of her school life in Lagos, Nigeria, before returning to India.
She later moved to Mumbai, where she pursued modelling while completing a bachelor’s degree in management studies.
She began her acting career with brief roles in Yaariyan 2 and Chandu Champion. She later made her debut as a female lead opposite Ravi Teja in Mr Bachchan.
She subsequently appeared in films such as Kingdom, Kaantha and Andhra King Taluka.
Bhagyashri was most recently seen opposite Akhil Akkineni in Lenin, which was released in theatres on July 10. She will next appear alongside Sivakarthikeyan in the Tamil action film Seyon.