Long before becoming a familiar face on television, actor Vivek Dahiya, known for shows such as Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, went through his share of personal and financial struggles. Dahiya moved to the UK for higher education, where he took up several odd jobs to support himself. In a recent interview, he recalled working at a bar and a factory, and also revealed that he once delivered pizzas for a popular chain — driving his BMW to make the deliveries.

During an interview with Filmygyan, Vivek Dahiya shared, “I was a student in the UK. I was 18 years old and I wanted to earn and be self sufficient, to not be dependent on my father. I took print outs of my CV and randomly handed them over at every store while roaming around the city center. You get a starting job like that only there, because you don’t get serious jobs. When you don’t have any experience to write, you write fraud things like working at NGOs in India. They will not be coming and checking anyway. This was a protocol that everyone followed at that time.”

‘Made to clean table in a bar’

Vivek Dahiya eventually landed a job at a bar. “By doing so, I landed in a bar, there was a vacancy of a bartender. I had always imagined myself playing with glasses, and fantasised about making cocktails. It looked very glamorous. The manager told me that he can’t give me the bartender job, but I can help around once the night starts. I went with a friend, we both were excited that we got our first job,” he said.

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The actor further added, “On my first day, I was made to clean tables with spray and cloth. One of the tables wasn’t clean and a couple was sitting there. They asked me to clean it, but when I sprayed the table, I accidentally sprayed the girl’s leg. I didn’t realise. Her boyfriend got up and held my collar, and abused me. That’s when I noticed that the girl got the spray on her dress. I apologised and the security helped me with the situation. The manager scolded me and asked me to behave.”

What pushed him and his friend to quit the job was the demand to clean the garbage bin. “Later in the night, we had to pick broken bottles and glasses from the floor. After bending a few times, we realised that our backs would hurt a lot if we do this all night. My friend suggested that we should quit the job. By then, the manager asked us to pick up the garbage from the bins. My friend said that he is quitting the job, and I also left with him,” Vivek revealed.

‘Drove BMW to deliver pizza’

During the interview, Vivek Dahiya also recalled the experience of doing other odd jobs. “I even worked in a toilet paper factory, an LG TV factory, and in call centres. I have also worked as a delivery boy for Dominos. I had a BMW and I used to deliver pizzas in that car. The customers used to be shocked that I came to deliver pizzas in a BMW. I was fascinated with cars. When you do odd jobs abroad, you can easily save enough money to buy a second hand BMW, maybe a 15-year old car. That’s exactly what my strategy was. I wanted to have the pleasure of driving a car like that.”

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Eventually, these odd jobs shaped his journey and instilled a sense of discipline that stayed with him even after he became an actor. “These odd jobs helped me. I started in a very irresponsible, fun way. I was really living my life. I was careless, reckless but once you keep working, work teaches you a lot. Every workplace will teach you how to be professional. I used to work in a call center, where they used to ask us to wear suits. We aren’t even seen, there’s no client interaction, but your body language, and voice change. You understand discipline, work ethics and decorum from these things,” he concluded.