Did You Know Vicky Kaushal And Sanjay Leela Bhansali Have THIS In Common?
Vicky Kaushal and Sanjay Leela Bhansali both share humble beginnings. They are coming together for Love & War, also starring Alia and Ranbir.
By ETV Bharat Entertainment Team
Published : October 13, 2025 at 5:32 PM IST
Hyderabad: At first glance, they seem worlds apart - one is a filmmaker known for cinematic spectacles, while the other an actor celebrated for his raw acting skills. But at a closer look, you will find that both share almost the same childhood in Mumbai's crowded chawls. Now, the two are joining hands for Love & War, Bhansali's next magnum opus also starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.
The film, set to release on March 20, 2026, promises a grand tale of passion and conflict. But beyond the screen, it's also a story of two artists who rose from cramped spaces to conquer Indian cinema.
Bhansali: The Boy Who Dreamed in a 300-Square-Foot Room
Before the lavish sets of Devdas and Padmaavat, Sanjay Leela Bhansali grew up in a 300-square-foot chawl in Bhuleshwar, South Mumbai. Life wasn't kind in those early years. His father, Navin Bhansali, was a film producer whose projects failed, pushing the family into financial struggle. His mother, Leela, became the breadwinner, sewing clothes and stitching falls on sarees late into the night.
In a 2002 interview with Simi Garewal, Bhansali recalled, "We would go in the evening to collect sarees from the shop and sit till night stitching falls. Sometimes we got four sarees, sometimes twenty-four."
Bhansali's father turned to alcohol and became violent. The young Sanjay grew up watching turmoil at home, which shaped his sensitivity and art. "Every artiste has to go through humiliation," he later said in an interview. "If there is no humiliation, there is no anger. The expression comes from that anguish," he added.
The filmmaker often says he feels blessed to have been "born in that 300-square-foot, colourless chawl." Those struggles, he believes, gave him the grit and imagination that now define his grand visual style. "I've been very blessed to be born to anguish," Bhansali once reflected.
Vicky Kaushal: From a 10x10 Room to Box Office Glory
Like Bhansali, Vicky Kaushal too was born into Mumbai's chawls, a 10x10 room in Malad, where his family of four lived together. His father, Sham Kaushal, was then a struggling stunt coordinator in Bollywood, and his mother, Veena, managed the home.
In a podcast with Raj Shamani, Vicky recalled, "I was born and brought up in a chawl. I've lived in a 10x10 room and seen how my parents got furniture one by one. We moved from chawl to 1BHK to 2BHK, that struggle was never hidden from us."
His father's journey wasn't glamorous. Sham Kaushal once shared, "They were both born in a 10×10 chawl. We used to sleep on a thin mattress on a cement floor. Then we moved to a bigger chawl, and later to a flat. They've seen my journey with their own eyes."
Growing up, Vicky learned early that the film industry isn't all glitter. "When you are born into a film family, you see the flip side too," he said. Though kaushal initially wanted a stable career, after earning a degree in engineering, he realised that office life wasn't for him. He enrolled in Kishore Namit Kapoor's acting academy and began doing theatre with Manav Kaul and Naseeruddin Shah.
His first leading role in Masaan (2015) brought him acclaim, followed by Raazi, Sanju, and Uri: The Surgical Strike, which earned him a National Award. By 2025, with Chhaava crossing Rs 800 crore globally, Vicky had firmly established himself among Bollywood's top stars.
Two Artists, One Shared Struggle
Both Bhansali and Kaushal have spoken openly about how struggle shaped their creative vision. Bhansali's films are defined by emotional intensity and visual grandeur, which is a stark contrast to his bleak childhood.
For Vicky, those early hardships taught resilience. He never used his father's connections to get work. As Sham Kaushal put it, "I told my sons to do what made them happy. They didn't need to be told about struggle, they saw it every day." That humility is visible in Vicky's grounded personality and choice of roles. He plays ordinary men in extraordinary situations.
Love & War: The Common Thread
It's almost poetic that these two who once lived in chawls are now collaborating on a film titled Love & War. The movie, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal, marks Bhansali's return to big-screen filmmaking after Gangubai Kathiawadi. According to reports, the climax will be filmed in Sicily, Italy, featuring an intense face-off between Ranbir and Vicky.
An industry insider revealed to a newswire, Bhansali is going international with Love & War. The climax in Sicily will be one of the grandest sequences he has ever filmed.
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