From losing his father to cancer at the age of 22 to his fatherhood journey, being inspired by Aamir Khan: Kapil Sharma gets candid

Kapil Sharma, who often wins hearts with The Great Indian Kapil Show and is all set to welcome Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahbadia in an upcoming episode, opened up about his personal life. He appeared on a podcast with Aamir Khan for his YouTube channel, where he shared his journey, the challenges he faced, and much more. Take a look:

While recalling the time he lost his father and how his life completely changed after that, he said, “When I first got a chance on television, life didn’t magically change overnight. The real turning point came when I lost my father. I was just 22 or 23. At that age, no one suddenly becomes mature. For every son, it’s his father who teaches him how the world works. Even if he doesn’t sit you down and explain everything, you learn by watching him, how he handles life, people, responsibilities. When he was gone, that silent teacher, that support system, everything felt missing.”

Kapil said, “A memory from his final days stayed with me forever. Two days before he was taken to the ICU, he said, ‘There are two things I couldn’t do, build a house, and get your sister married.’ Hearing that felt heavy. As a son, all I could think was he’ll get better, and we’ll do it together. I told him, ‘Don’t worry, Dad. Once you’re fine, we’ll take care of everything.’ But maybe he already knew time was limited. Strangely, that’s when something shifted, almost like a miracle. I got a chance to participate in competitions on a regional channel. There was no money, but I gained experience, and at that point, that was everything.”

Talking about his fatherhood journey, Kapil said, “Many times we feel we don’t fully understand our fathers, and to a large extent that’s true. But there are also so many things that children end up teaching us, often without even realizing it. For example, after my daughter was born, my English actually improved. Earlier, I used to hesitate while speaking, whether it was with others or even with my wife. I always felt like, ‘What if I make a mistake and get corrected?’ But with Anayra, it’s different. I talk freely, without fear. There’s no judgment, no hesitation, just pure conversation. And in that process, I started getting more comfortable with the language. Now, she even teaches me Marathi words sometimes.”

The comedian shared, “It wasn’t something we could afford film school wasn’t even really an option. In fact, there wasn’t much awareness either. Some people we knew went to NSD, but even there, I think a lot of people don’t realise how tough it was maybe one person selected from an entire state, and overall just 20–22 entries from across India. As for Pune and film institutes, we didn’t even know how to approach something like that back then. There was no guidance, no roadmap. Now, sometimes I genuinely feel curious, I want to learn filmmaking, understand the craft more deeply. But the irony is, when your career is already moving, finding time becomes difficult. Work keeps you occupied, people don’t really let you step away, and somewhere you also think, ‘Okay, things are working, money is coming in, so what will I practically do with that learning right now?’”

Kapil shared about the time he made it to national television for the first time and mentioned, “After my father passed away, I made it to national television. The same show where I had been rejected in my first audition, I returned, got selected, and eventually became the winner of the entire season. After that, life started moving fast. Shows came in, money started coming, and within just six months, both of my father’s unfinished dreams were fulfilled. My sister got married beautifully, and we were able to build a house.”

He spoke to Aamir Khan and credited him for always being an inspiration. The comedian said, “Whatever little we’ve been able to learn just by watching your films, that’s one side of it. The bigger learning comes from hearing you speak. Because then, maybe someday, we won’t have to say what you’re saying now, that after doing so much work, the world calls you a perfectionist, yet you still feel like, ‘I didn’t give enough time to certain things,’ and then you start investing more time into them. That’s why I’m saying, life hasn’t really taken anything from me, nor has it ever demanded anything from me in that way.”