Actor Shekhar Suman has seen a lot of highs and lows in his career, which kickstarted within days of him landing in Mumbai. The actor got his first film Utsav opposite Rekha and directed by Girish Karnad less than a month after he shifted base to Mumbai and decided to become an actor. However, soon after, he found himself without work at a challenging point of his life after his son Aayush was diagnosed with a terminal illness and he was stretched for funds. Set against working on television, the actor had to set aside his film aspirations. However, little did he know that he would one day rule the medium.Talking about the tough phase, Shekhar said in a recent interview that he had to take television offers, despite being initially uninterested, because he had no other option. “I discovered my son was terminally ill. Firstly, I had no work at that time. On top of that, we received such tragic news. I was completely ruined and destroyed. I thought I had nothing left in life. I wasn’t earning that much to look after him. I didn’t want to take money from home either. Those were very trying times,” he said, adding that Dekh Bhai Dekh was his first TV show.Shekhar’s first film deal was for Rs 25,000Shekhar also admitted in the new interview that Rs 35 crore was a dream for someone who was paid Rs 25,000 for his debut film role in Girish Karnad’s 1984 period drama, Utsav. He claimed even that was “enormous” for him, given prior to that in Delhi, he’d get a salary of Rs 600 for working at the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts and his wife Alka Suman would earn Rs 900 per month for working at a shop.“With Rs 1500, we had a beautiful life. We’d spend Rs 400 on barsati rent, Rs 200 for grocery, Rs 200 for motorcycle petrol, Rs 200 for entertainment, and save whatever was left. The simpler the life is, it’s more beautiful. Then it becomes difficult, particularly for an actor, with ego, fame, money, and jealousy involved. That’s where the person gets trapped, which is not important. The most beautiful thing is you get up in the morning and go to work. People forget your name once you die, but they don’t forget the work you left behind. So, make your work immortal instead of your name,” said Shekhar.Shekhar Suman was called TV’s Amitabh BachchanShekhar’s TV career took off after Dekh Bhai Dekh. He was hailed as “the Amitabh Bachchan of television” three years before the megastar himself made his small-screen debut as the host of popular quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati, a role he continues to take on even 26 years and 18 seasons later. While the moniker bothered Shekar initially, he looks back at it with gratitude now.“Back then, I used to get upset. I had an existence of my own. I wanted to be known as Shekhar Suman. But Amitabh Bachchan is a metaphor. It’s another name for excellence. Being called the ‘Amitabh Bachchan of television’ just means you’re also trying to achieve the same kind of excellence. It’s a very big compliment. I think I was being very stupid,” said Shekhar in a recent interview.He confessed to The Lallantop that he considers being called TV’s Amitabh Bachchan as prized as the time when then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee stopped his cavalcade at a wedding, got down from his car, hugged Shekhar, and asked him to keep satirizing his own personality on his popular late night talk show Movers & Shakers.Story continues below this adShekhar Suman on being the highest paid TV personalityShekhar admitted he became the highest paid television personality in India almost 30 years ago in 1997, when he signed his first contract for Rs 35 crore for Movers & Shakers. Adjusted for inflation, it would amount to over six times that today. “When it was offered to me, I delivered my best acting. I thought if I show my excitement then the deal would fall through. “Can you make it 40?,” I asked (laughs), although I’d rush back home in excitement and declare I was getting Rs 35 crore,” recalled the host.In comparison, Amitabh Bachchan, now one of the highest paid celebrities on Indian TV, gets more than Rs 5 crore per episode on KBC, as per the Times of India. Speaking on SCREEN Spotlight earlier this year, Shekhar clarified he didn’t quit TV because KBC picked up steam in the 2000s. “I just wanted to do it for a specific period of time. As an actor, I wanted to explore my abilities and do other roles. As a matter of fact, when somebody asked me why I left Movers & Shakers, I said, ‘Because I was good at it, and I was getting better at it.’ And that’d lead to complacency, and that meant I’d do nothing else. So, it was very important for me to move away and do newer things,” said the actor.Shekhar also recalled that a lot of people had a “chip on their shoulder” that they’d never do TV like him. “They always had this patronizing attitude towards those who were doing TV. But later on, all of them followed. So, a big victory there! As they say, either be the leader, follow or get out of the way. It’s important to lead. If you have the conviction, nothing stops you in life. I’m happy TV is no longer known as the ‘idiot box’ and a lot of well-meaning people have taken to it,” said Shekhar.Shekhar Suman on Bollywood politics against sonShekhar has maintained that while his son, actor Adhyayan Suman, has great potential, he hasn’t gotten the opportunities he deserved because of politics in the Hindi film industry. “I got to know when someone visited my home and asked if I had any issues with a person because when mine or Adhyayan’s names were suggested, they refused to consider us. Without taking names — I know the names — I was shocked because I never said anything against them. But I don’t know if I had something inadvertently sometime,” said Shekhar.Story continues below this adAlso Read — Shekhar Suman says BJP members lauded his satire show: ‘PM Modi said he loves critique’He claimed that something he said as satire on Movers & Shakers has also stayed for 10-20 years with some people, and has taken the form of enmity. “But I’ve moved on. The river finds its way. Everyone doesn’t get everything in life. Politics will be a part of the film industry. There’ll be jealousy. You can’t be liked by all,” he added. Adhyayan most recently directed his father’s new satire show Shekhar Tonite on YouTube.