Anupam Kher Recalls How Premature Balding Shook His Confidence

MUMBAI-Veteran actor Anupam Kher shared photographs from his first portfolio shoot after arriving in Mumbai in 1981, recalling that there were days when his premature balding made him feel insecure, but faith in his craft kept him going.

Sharing two photographs from his younger days on social media, Kher said he had arrived in Mumbai as a 25-year-old from Shimla with a “suitcase full of dreams.”

“These are photographs from the very first portfolio I shot after arriving in Mumbai in 1981. I was 25 years old. A young man from Shimla with a suitcase full of dreams and a heart full of belief. The city was enormous. It could make you feel like a tiny drop in a vast ocean,” he wrote.

“There were days when my premature balding bothered me. I wondered if people would see my hair before they saw my talent. But then I would remind myself of one thing… I knew my craft.”

The veteran actor credited the National School of Drama for giving him confidence and said determination and hard work helped him push through uncertainty.

“Life had given me hunger. And hunger, when it is backed by hard work, becomes a powerful force. People often ask me, ‘Did you know you would make it?’ No. I didn’t know. But I knew I would never stop trying.”

He added that dreams are fulfilled through perseverance rather than wishful thinking.

“They don’t come true because you merely wish for them. They come true because you wake up every morning, work on them relentlessly, survive rejection, silence your fears, and keep showing up.”

Looking back at the old photographs, Kher said he did not see a struggling actor but “a young man who refused to negotiate with his dreams.”

“And for that 25-year-old boy, I have only one thing to say… ‘Thank you for not giving up.'” (IANS)