Did you know Suriya became an actor to pay off mother's Rs 25,000 loan, worked in garment factory?

New Delhi, India

Actor Suriya's journey to stardom has been accidental. It's rare when an actor's child doesn't want to become an actor, but Suriya was this kid. However, acting was in his destiny, and so it did happen.

For the unversed, Suriya is the son of renowned Tamil actor Sivakumar

How did Suriya become an actor?

Unlike the other star kids, the National-award-winning actor Suriya didn't want to work in the industry. So creating a new path, he started working at a garment factory on a salary of Rs 1,200.

In an interview with Pinkvilla, the Kanguva actor went on to recall the time when he took a different path. 

"This is going to be a long story. I just want them [fans] to know how I feel and what it means to me," Suriya said, revealing that he earned Rs 750 as a trainee and soon his salary was raised.

"They were not aware that I was an actor’s son. My monthly salary was then Rs 1,200. I worked for nearly three years. By this time, my salary had been raised to Rs 8,000," he noted.

Recalling the financial difficulties that pushed him towards acting, the actor shared that his mother was struggling to pay the debt of Rs 25,000. 

Sharing how his mother told him about the financial woes, the actor said, “I have borrowed Rs 25,000 and your father doesn’t know.” Shocked to know, the actor asked about the savings and got to know that they were nil and at that time his father, Sivakumar, was not getting much work in films.

"When I saw my mom struggling to pay that amount, it hit me hard. I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing?’”

“Mom said that our bank balance had never been more than one lakh or one and a half lakh, and Dad never insisted on his salary; he would just wait for it to come when it did. At that time, Dad hadn’t worked continuously for more than six months or ten months,” he said. 

Suriya then confessed that he entered the industry only to repay his mother's loan. “I came to the industry for money. I entered the industry just with the intention of repaying my mother’s loan. That’s how I started my career, and that’s how I became Suriya.”

Suriya made his acting debut on the big screen with the movie Nerrukku Ner in 1997.

On the work front, the actor is gearing up for the release of his next movie Kanguva. The highly-awaited movie stars Bobby Deol as the main antagonist. The movie will hit the theatres on November 15.