Raghubir Yadav’s early life shaped by theatre and hardship
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Raghubir Yadav, a well-known Hindi cinema actor, left home after failing his Class 12 exams and joined the Bhopal Theatre troupe in India.
He began earning 2.50 rupees a day, often going hungry while travelling across North and Central India with the company for six years. Madanlal Kapoor, who ran Bhopal Theatre and was the father of actors Annu Kapoor and Seema Kapoor, took Yadav under his wing and helped him improve his Urdu pronunciation.
Yadav and his fellow performers lived a nomadic life, performing plays in villages and relying on minimal resources. They often made do with very little food, sometimes eating only half a roti and saving the rest for later, and occasionally going to bed hungry. Despite the hardship, Yadav recalls a joyful and disciplined atmosphere fostered by the Kapoor family, filled with music, books, and constant learning.
He remembers Annu Kapoor teaching him a song that earned him a playful scolding from Annu’s mother, who enforced strict discipline. Yadav now views those years of deprivation as crucial to his education and artistic development, claiming that learning happens through hardship and cherishing the memories with Seema Kapoor.
After his time with the theatre, Yadav studied at the National School of Drama and went on to appear in acclaimed films like Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan, and the television series Panchayat.
