Some like farah khan and zoya akhtar had sterling antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on film sets to win the box office with om shanti om and zindagi na milegi dobara; while ashutosh g...Some like farah khan and zoya akhtar had sterling antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on film sets to win the box office with om shanti om and zindagi na milegi dobara; while ashutosh gowarikar auditioned for folk dances and failed with his debut film, lagaan created cinematic history; and anurag basu had to first dance as a background extra and later overcome cancer to witness barfi win hearts and awards.