b>Some of our young actors and actresses have alternate careers waiting for them if they chose to hang up their boots in Bollywood...

While innumerable Bollywood films have depicted a slice of college life, what's interesting is that many of our actors and actresses have never even experienced that in real life.

That said, on the contrary we also have a group, if not very large, of those who shined through their university days. We may not have a James Franco (who has a double PhD) amidst us yet, but these actors definitely have an alternate career choice if they chose to bid farewell to Bollywood.

Taapsee Pannu

She could well have been programming complex codes for computers with her degree in IT engineering.


But Bollywood beckoned this young lady from Ludhiana who instead chose to make her mark in South cinema. Though she takes pride in her academic background, the actress says she has till date not had the time to collect her degree certificate from college.

Parineeti Chopra


If not for the global recession in 2008, Parineeti would have been walking the corners of Wall Street. Armed with a degree in Finance and Economics from the Manchester Business School, she came back to Mumbai and joined Yash Raj Films as a PR consultant. This was before she bagged the roles in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl and Ishaqzaade.

Sonakshi Sinha


The 25-year-old has often faced brickbats for her onscreen dress sense -- or the utter lack of it. But in reality, she studied Fashion Designing in Mumbai and even has a degree in the same.

Shruti Haasan


She belongs to an illustrious star family but Shruti tried to find her own space by graduating from St Andrew's College with a degree in Psychology. She soon shifted her focus to cinema and music and eventually travelled to the USA to learn music at the Musicians Institute in California.

Soha Ali Khan


Her acting chops may not be as sharp as her brother's but Soha definitely has an edge over Saif when it comes to academics.

After her graduation, she earned a Masters degree in International Relations and Political Science from the London School of Economics. She even worked for the Ford Foundation and Citibank before getting bitten by the acting bug.

Sonam Kapoor

Her dad is a famous actor and making her foray into Bollywood must have been a natural choice.


But before that, she travelled miles to Singapore to complete her International Baccalaureate, by which she studied theatre and arts for two years. Post a course in Political Science and Economics from the University of East London, Sonam returned to India to make her move to Bollywood.

Amrita Puri


With a post-graduate degree in Mass Communication, Amrita used to work in an ad agency before making the big switch to Bollywood.

Ayushmann Khurrana


The Chandigarh-born actor, who took the small screen detour before entering Bollywood, majored in English Literature and has done his masters in Mass Communication from Punjab University. The actor is also a singer-lyricist, whose Paani Da stormed music charts as soon as it released.

...And here are the dropouts


Ranbir is the only actor in the Kapoor family, besides cousin Kareena, to have attended college. He quit soon after.


Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma both went to the same college -- Mount Carmel in Bangalore. The former dropped out to pursue modelling while the latter graduated in Arts.


Sushant Singh Rajput (of Kai Po Che) and Kartik Tiwari (of Pyaar Ka Punchnama) both completed six semesters in their engineering college before dropping out to pursue acting.


Alia Bhatt wasn't interested in pursuing a college degree, especially after a dream debut in Student of the Year.