Actor who played Krishna in Ramanand Sagar show lived in a 10 by 10 kholi, used common bathroom; now owns a 4 BHK luxury flat in Mumbai with walk-in wardrobe

Indian Express

11 hours ago

Actor Swapnil Joshi, famously known for playing Krishna in Ramanand Sagar's 1993 show Krishna, was born in a humble family and spent most of his years living in a 10 by 10 kholi in Mumbai. Despite marking his debut as an actor in 1989, he bought his dream home–a 4 BHK house–in 2015. A house, whose renovation he recently finished and now has everything he once dreamed of.
Swapnil recently gave a home tour to Pinkvilla, where he shared his journey from a kholi in Girgaon to a luxury apartment with a national park view in Mumbai. Recalling his beginning, Swapnil shared, 'I used to live in a 10 by 10 Kholi with a common toilet and basic amenities, but had a fun life there.' Swapnil was driven to own a house of his own since a very young age.
'My father had always advised me that the foremost thing one should buy is home. You will be shocked to know that I bought my first ever house when I was 21. It was in Kandiwali. It was on loan. In between I did a lot of changes until I booked my dream home in 2015 and moved in here in 2016. It is a 4 BHK house. It is huge.'
Swapnil's living room is decorated with a beautiful off-white sofa as well as an aesthetic wooden swing, hung in the middle of the living room facing towards the balcony which gives a beautiful view of the national park. 'My mom always wanted a swing in our house. She has her evening tea here.' The living room also has a modern glass centre table, complimenting the sofa and wooden flooring.
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The actor shared, 'The interiors have more to do with my children than me. My daughter decided the furniture, my son chose the television. Sirf paise mere hisaab se gaye hai (I only decide the budget).'
One of the walls is decorated with a beautiful painting of Goddess Mahalakshmi. 'This is different avatar of Kolapur Mahalakshmi. She is our kuldevi,' shared the actor. While the house mostly is done in the colours white and black, the actor has used simple grey curtains to cover the balcony.
The house's balcony is the quite corner of the house where Swapnil often meditates. 'Because my house is on the 31st floor, and meditation is all about not listening to the noise and concentrating inside. I try my best.'
Another corner of the house, which the actor has converted as the dining area is decorated with a huge painting of him. 'Someone gifted this to me.' The same wall also features multiple empty frames. Sharing the idea behind the empty frames, Swapnil shared, 'I had gone to Paris a few years ago. There I visited a museum where I saw many empty frames hanging on the wall. I enquired the thought behind the empty frames. They told me, 'These frames are for the memories you will make in your present and future.' This thought stayed with me.'
While showing his quiet dining area, Swapnil shared, 'We have a rule at our house. It is that every last meal of the day, we all have it together except for the days I am out for shoot or have late night shoots.'
'We also don't allow phones at our house. Once you enter the home, you cannot be on your phone. We have a common mobile for the house, like landlines in the old times. Everybody has its number. If they have something extremely important to share, they call on that number and not our personal phones.'
The actor then moved to his newly built kitchen which has a special food counter. The motive behind was to make it easy for his wife Leena to serve her kids when they rush to their school. 'On the days when guests are invited, the windows of the counter close, making the living room a private space for chatter and banter.' His kitchen has a sliding door and is made in the colours black and white with a special glass cabinet built to store fancy crockeries.
The next destination in the home tour was Swapnil's bedroom which has a walk-in wardrobe in the entrance–Swapnil's childhood dream. 'When I was young, I would often hear the term walk-in wardrobe. When I finally grew up and started to earn, I finally found out about the term walk-in wardrobe. Eventually, I found out that it is a room dedicated for clothes and accessories, and from where I have come, there used to be a room where we all used to live.'
'We had this one space, which used to become our bedroom at night with mattress all around. In the mornings, we would roll the mattress and it would become our sofa. We had a foldable dining table. I took my kids to the chawl we lived in for them to understand their roots. I wanted them to know where we have started from. They were shocked to see the small space.'
Speaking about fulfilling his childhood dream of owning a walk-in wardrobe, Swapni shared, 'Even today, this space fascinates me. Sometimes I just come here, look at it and do nothing. I feel: 'Theek thaak hi karliya maine life mein jaha kapde ki jagah alag hai aur sone ki jagah alag hai (I have done well in life)'.'
Swapnil also gave a tour of his kids Raaghav and Maayra's room which is decorated with soft toys, their medals, and trophies from Taekwondo championships. They both have their separate study tables. They are 9 and 7.
Apart from their bedrooms, a smaller portion of his house is dedicated for puja. The room is filled with multiple pictures of Swapnil's Guru. In the room, Swapnil has also kept a 50-year-old almirah from the time of his parents wedding. 'When my mom and dad got married, this is the first thing they bought as a couple.' They are married for 52 years now. She never let us give away this almirah to anyone. She kept it ever since. She believes it brought her luck.'
At last, Swapnil gave a tour of his balcony which opens to the East blessing their house with a beautiful view of sunrise every morning.