‘From Rs 600 a day to Team India’: Varun Chakaravarthy's inspiring story

Indian cricketer Varun Chakaravarthy has opened up about his remarkable career journey before finding success on the cricket field — a path that included stints as an architect, musician, and even a filmmaker.

Speaking to Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube show Kutti Stories with Ash, the 33-year-old spinner, who recently played a key role in India’s Champions Trophy triumph in Dubai, shared how each twist led him closer to his true calling. Chakaravarthy began his professional life as an assistant architect after college, earning between ₹14,000 and ₹18,000 per month. But the corporate desk was never going to hold him for long.

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“Right after I completed college, I was working in an architectural company for one and a half years as an assistant architect.

I started with around 14k a month, and it was 18k around the time I left,” he said. After quitting architecture, Varun turned to music to rekindle his passion as a guitarist — but reality struck soon enough. “For a brief stint, I took up guitar as I wanted to rekindle my love for music. But soon I realised that if you want to pursue some art, the love has to come from within. If your goal is to please others or get attention from others, it is never going to work out.

I was never able to practice guitar for more than an hour. I realised it only after 6-8 months, and then I decided to stop.”

Next came an entrepreneurial stint: he started his own interior design and construction firm, which ran well for a year until Cyclone Vardha wiped out his investments. Undeterred, Chakaravarthy switched to the film industry, trying his luck as a junior artist. “Some of my friends were part of the film industry, and I started seeing a lot of movies and accompanying them to shoots to observe what was happening.

I went there with the intention of becoming an Assistant Director, but that didn’t work out. I couldn’t even make a proper pitch. Then one of the ADs asked me if I played cricket. I said, ‘Only tennis-ball cricket.’ So then I got to act in this movie, where I was signed as a junior artist with a salary of INR 600 per day.

And that was pretty helpful at that time.”Quiz: Who's that IPL player? He even tried his hand at filmmaking, directing a few short films while playing tennis-ball cricket on weekends. “The shoot went for 20 days and I liked the entire process. Then I started writing a few stories, scripts, but when I pitched to a few guys, I realised that I was getting the emotions right, but I wasn’t able to translate them as a screenplay. I directed a few short films.” On the cricket field, he has come a long way too. From being selected for the 2021 T20 World Cup to facing injury setbacks, Varun recently made a strong comeback with nine wickets in India’s Champions Trophy win. The Kolkata Knight Riders spinner is set to return for India’s white-ball fixtures on the Bangladesh tour in August.