Ravi Kishan is a popular actor and politician nowadays. His performances in Laapataa Ladies and Maamla Legal Hai demonstrated that he was more than a provincial star. But he had to work hard for 33 years to get there. And before that, he had a horrible childhood in which his father, Shyam Narayan Shukla, beat him virtually every day. So much so that one day his mother told him to flee and gave him Rs 500. “He will kill you,” the actor remembered. However, their relationship shifted as his father became older, and the actor referred to him as `his pride`, whose death altered his perspective on the world.
Ravi gets candid about his father
Ravi Kishan discussed his traumatic background on a recent podcast with Raj Shamani. “I was trying to prove to my father that I was worth loving,” Ravi Kishan explained. The actor recalled his relationship with his father, saying, “He would often think I was nalayak (useless), and I wanted to prove that I wasn`t.” He was a priest. Intelligent. “He was a proud Brahmin.”
“I once asked him why he prayed so much. At the end of the day, you`re still wearing a ripped piece of clothing and have a broken cycle.” This infuriated him, and he hit me hard.
Ravi then explained that it was an everyday occurrence. “He would beat me up every day.” He went further: “Because my dad never spoke to me or pampered me, I would feel him hitting me is the closest to loving me and communicating.”
His father`s violence once forced him to leave the house. “One day, my father punched me so brutally that I had to run away. That day, my mother gave me Rs 500 and said, `Please leave, else he will kill you today.`”
When Ravi came to Mumbai
Ravi moved to Mumbai at a young age and began working hard to establish a profession in acting. He rose to prominence in both Bhojpuri and Hindi cinema before entering politics. His film, Laapataa Ladies, has recently earned international recognition.
It was chosen as India`s official entry for the 2025 Oscars in the Best International Feature category. Despite not making the final shortlist, the film received international acclaim.