Rakul Preet Singh reveals her first paycheck was Rs 5 lakh: ‘I will be the first person in my circle of friends to own a car, so I did this film’ |

Rakul Preet Singh Revealing that acting was never part of her original plan. The actress talks about her journey and how she unexpectedly landed her first acting job while still in college and only agreed to do so because she wanted to buy a car with an offer of Rs 5 lakh.Recalling how her journey began, Rakul told News18, “The Kannada film industry happened to me by chance. I was in college and it was the third day after I took the pictures. Someone saw the pictures and their team contacted my father and said, ‘We want to cast her.'” I was studying maths at that time, so I didn’t know what to do. I was only in first grade, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make a movie. “She admits it was the salary that convinced her to say yes. “The only reason I did this film was because I was getting paid Rs 5 lakh and I thought I would be the first person in my circle of friends to own a car. I thought I would look cool, so I said yes to the film. “However, the experience changed her perspective. “We shot for 40 days for that film and it made me realize that I loved being in front of the camera. I decided to complete my graduation and then pursue an acting career. That’s why I had a gap and then I made my debut in 2013.”She also reflects on her early experiences navigating the industry without any strategy or guidance. “Those days, you didn’t have any strategy. I learned everything on the journey. I turned down a lot of big films because I didn’t want to miss classes and have poor attendance,” she said.Rakul made his debut in 2009 with the Kannada romantic drama Gilli, directed by Raghav Loki and co-starring Gururaj Jaggesh. After completing her studies, the actress returned to films in 2013 with Venkatadri Express. Her other popular films include Loukyam (2014), Nannaku Prematho (2016), Rarandoi Veduka Chudham (2017), Pandaga Chesko (2015), Sarrainodu (2016), Dhruva (2016), Spyder (2017), Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017) and Ayalaan (2024).