Business
Vivek Oberoi recalls Bollywood's 'soft target' years, now worth over Rs 1,200 crore
The Ramayana actor says a powerful lobby pushed him out of films during a dark stretch, and he has since built a business empire that reportedly values him at more than Rs 1,200 crore.
Desh Flash desk7 November 2026, 12:30 pm IST2 minUpdated 7 November 2026, 12:30 pm IST
Vivek Oberoi, who rose to stardom in the 2000s on the back of hits like Saathiya, Masti and Shootout at Lokhandwala, has opened up about the period when his film career lost momentum. In a recent conversation on the YouTube channel Relearn, the actor described being sidelined by an influential group within the industry, a stretch he called one of the hardest of his life.
Oberoi says his later films did not perform well at the box office, and that he was removed from projects he had already signed. He also claimed that some collaborators backed away because they feared pressure from the underworld. He described himself as a 'soft target' and said friends and peers distanced themselves when he needed them most. The period, in his telling, was marked by anger, heavy drinking, self-criticism and relentless negative press.
He has previously alleged that he became a casualty of lobby politics in the industry. In an earlier press conference, he publicly criticised Salman Khan over comments linked to Aishwarya Rai, then his girlfriend, and suggested that Khan was behind his loss of work. These remarks are his own account and have not been independently established.
The comeback narrative is now running alongside a financial one. Oberoi is back on screen as Vidyutjihva in Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana, and he has built a parallel career as an entrepreneur with interests in real estate and the diamond trade. According to a valuation reported by ETimes, his networth stands at more than Rs 1,200 crore, a figure that puts his business profile well ahead of his box-office record in recent years.
For readers tracking celebrity wealth, the story is a reminder that a film career and a fortune do not always move in step. Many stars who lose screen momentum diversify into property, brands and trading, and Oberoi's trajectory shows how that shift can reshape a public image. Whether his account of the lobby years changes how the industry views those dynamics remains an open question.
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