'It was God's plan': 'Sarabhai' actor Rajesh Kumar quit acting at career peak, shares 'incredibly beautiful' lesson after losing everything

Actor Rajesh Kumar, best known as the poetry-spouting Rosesh Sarabhai from Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, says quitting acting at the peak of his career and losing everything to farming was "all part of God's plan." Kumar, now back on screen after a five-year sabbatical, features in Ohh My Dog, releasing in theatres on August 7. He shared the story of his fall and his return in a conversation with Screen.

'I Left Acting at the Peak, Turned To Farming, And Lost Everything'

Most actors guard their peak years like a fortress. Kumar walked out of his at 42, swapped film sets for farmland, and spent the next five years going broke. He calls that stretch the most beautiful education of his life, and he isn't being ironic. Kumar doesn't treat the decision as a mistake he's since made peace with. He called it destiny.

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"I think it was all part of God's plan. What happened was that, at what many would call the peak of my career, I took a sabbatical from acting at the age of 42. I turned to farming, and I lost everything. Then I returned to acting in 2022. Those five years transformed me as a human being. I became more real, more grounded. I mean I came to understand the depths of suffering, how much pain a person can endure, how humiliating it feels when you have nothing left," he told the Screen.

"I've lived through moments where the credit card recovery agent would call the watchman's cabin downstairs and abuse me because I didn't have the money to pay. I sold my car. The last vehicle I owned was an Eco Car, which I eventually handed over to my farmers in Nashik because I couldn't pay them. I've been through so much. But despite all that, I never allowed myself to sink into depression, anxiety, or any kind of negative emotion. The biggest takeaway from the last four or five years has been the learning, it has been incredibly beautiful."

How Losing Everything Made Him A Better Actor

Asked about what those years actually gave him, he said the range of characters now coming his way makes sense only because of what he went through off screen.

"When a variety of roles started coming my way, I realised I could see so many different people within myself. I'd lived through so many situations, and it's our experiences that shape us. As we say, 'It is in times of scarcity that one's true character is revealed.' Those experiences slowly became a part of who I am. And when these characters started coming to me, I found myself instinctively justifying their actions. They kept making sense to me, and perhaps that's where my confidence as an actor came from."

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For Kumar, the lesson isn't really about acting at all. "I think it all comes down to becoming more human. The more human I've become, the better the work has turned out."

Kumar's Ohh My Dog hits theatres on August 7.