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Varun Chakaravarthy Reveals His Emotional Story: "Worked As Junior Artist For Rs 600..."

Sakshi Sharma

Varun Chakaravarthy (Source:@KKRWeRule,x.com)Varun Chakaravarthy (Source:@KKRWeRule,x.com)

Indian cricketer Varun Chakaravarthy, widely recognised for his deceptive spin and unorthodox journey, has now revealed that he worked as a junior artist in movies for a meagre Rs 600 a day before cricket transformed his life.

Appearing on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube show 'Kutti Stories with Ash', Chakaravarthy opened up about his early struggles and the unexpected turn his life took before he eventually found his calling in cricket.

Varun's Journey From Movie Sets To Indian Cricket

With dreams of becoming an Assistant Director, Chakaravarthy joined the production team on set. However, things didn’t go as planned.

“Some of my friends were part of the film industry, and I started seeing a lot of movies and accompanying them to shoots to observe what was happening. I started talking to the guys and I came to know that they are shooting for a movie called Jeeva in many cricket grounds," Chakaravarthy told India’s legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on the latter’s YouTube show Kutti Stories with Ash.

While speaking about his Rs 600-a-day movie stint, Ashwin humorously asked Chakaravarthy to compare that to his current daily allowance as a professional cricketer for India and the Kolkata Knight Riders. 

“I went there to become an Assistant Director, but that didn’t work out. I couldn’t even make a proper pitch. Then one of the ADs asked me if I played cricket. I said, ‘Only tennis-ball cricket.’ So then I got to act in this movie, where I was signed as a junior artist with a salary of INR 600 per day. And that was pretty helpful at that time."

Before his rise in cricket, Varun Chakaravarthy also tried his hand at filmmaking, scriptwriting, and music. After completing his architecture degree, he opened his own firm. But in 2016 Cyclone Vardha devastated his firm in Chennai. That tragedy pushed him to briefly return to the creative world before he fully immersed himself in cricket.

“The shoot went for 20 days and I liked the entire process," he said. “Then I started writing a few stories, scripts, but when I pitched to a few guys, I realised that I was getting the emotions right, but I wasn’t able to translate them as a screenplay. I directed a few short films."

Eventually, his passion shifted once again,  this time to the cricket pitch. He began taking the sport seriously and transformed his tennis-ball games to professional leagues. 

It is also important to mention that, Chakaravarthy made his mark in the IPL with KKR in 2024. His comeback to the Indian team was capped off earlier this year when he played a crucial role in India’s victory in the ICC Champions Trophy under Rohit Sharma’s leadership.