The deaf and mute boy’s dream with the duce had roared into reality with Iqbal joining the Men in Blue. Iqbal was perhaps the most career-defining film for Shreyas Talpade. He unlearned a lot while doing the film and learned a lot more that would take him miles in Bollywood.
His humble middle-class upbringing helped Shreyas through the years of struggle before Iqbal and shape up for the journey into stardom beyond Iqbal. There’s something common, he feels, between the screen life and the real life. “You do not know what awaits you tomorrow or the day after – just like we do not know what lies ahead for the film the next Friday.”
The uncertainty teaches us to be prepared for any kind of crisis. The pandemic has taught us what uncertainty could be. “In fact, it is this preparedness that differentiates between a winner and a loser,” says Shreyas. It is the same preparedness that he practices when it comes to managing his finances. “I was pretty much a conscious consumer even before the pandemic. I never indulged too much when it came to going out or partying with friends or buying something. Nothing really changed much for me, except the fact that I became a vegan during the pandemic. That helps me save some more,” he says, flashing the smile that women swoon over.
It takes one Friday to change a man’s life – that’s a common belief in the film industry across the world. “If things do not work in your favour and a black Friday hits you, then it turns very hard to sustain. It bites harder when your career is on the rising curve,” says Shreyas. “A new entrant to the industry usually saves around 10-20 per cent of his income. But ideally, in the entertainment industry with the kind of money that comes after a successful project, one should be saving double.”
Hovering on his mid-forties, the actor keeps himself attached firmly to his roots. His requirements from life have never been too high and he stays happy with the least that makes him content. “I come from a humble background. We were given a small pocket money when we were kids and were strictly told that the money must last for a month. So, from a very young age, I learnt to handle money carefully.”
But fiscal management is not all about measured spending alone. Young Shreyas was not much into investing in his early years in the industry. Success brings fortune and that’s what happened to Shreyas too. With the flow of money increasing, investment planning became all the more crucial. It was hard for him to manage a demanding career and his finances simultaneously until he found his best wealth manager in. The couple married in 2004 and Deepti Talpade has been looking after Shreyas’s finances ever since.
Shreyas doesn’t want to hang up his boots someday just because of his age. “I will continue to work till my health permits.” Inspired by Amitabh Bachchan’s comeback and reclaiming of his position in Bollywood, Shreyas is upbeat about a successful second innings when he plans to save money to secure his happiness for the time he would feel he was really old. “The secret to working for happiness is that you end up earning much more money than what you have imagined!” says Shreyas.