1 Sonu Sood
The well-sculpted villain of Dabanng is an engineer by qualification. Sood graduated from the Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering with a degree in Electronic Engineering. It was here that the modelling bug bit him, eventually leading him up to Hindi cinema.
2 Sushant Singh Rajput
Before he became MS Dhoni, Sushant Singh Rajput was a student of Mechanical Engineering at Delhi College of Engineering. However, he dropped out after three years to pursue a career in television. With films like Kai Po Che! (2013), Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!(2015) and the upcoming MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, the actor sure made the right decision.
3 Ameesha Patel
She might be missing from the limelight these days, but was a big part of the Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai phenomenon. The actress was a typical Mumbai girl, before heading overseas to study Biotech Engineering, later shifting to a degree in Economics at the Tuft University. She put her degrees in the cold freeze when she returned to Mumbai and took up acting.
4 Shankar Mahadevan
Like a good South Indian boy in Mumbai, Shankar Mahadevan graduated from the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai with a degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering. He continued to work as a professional with Leading Edge, before he sent fans breathless with his first music album of the same name. Since then, we doubt the talented singer has tried his hand at coding anything.
5 R Madhavan
As a young college student, Madhavan wanted to become an Air Force pilot. With this in mind, he graduated with a degree in Electronics Engineering from Rajaram College, Kolhapur. He did pursue the dream for a while, becoming a part of the NCC cadets in Maharashtra, before dropping out for a modelling and television career. Incidentally, Madhavan did get to play a naval officer in his early career, in the television series Sea Hawks.
6 Karthik Aryan
His verbal diarrhoea as the frustrated boyfriend in Pyaar Ka Punchnama might never have happened had Aryan's parents forced him to continue with his education. Coming from a family of doctors, the actor enrolled in DY Patil College for a degree in Biotechnology, after coming 23rd in the entrance exam. Thankfully for him, his career in acting has gone the right way.
7 Fawad Khan
After this, there is a question if there is something Fawad Khan is not qualified to do. The hunk from across the border has been stealing hearts with his charm and acting, but he has some educational pedigree to boot. Khan has a degree in Telecom Engineering and Software Engineering. As he admitted in an interview, he only turned to acting because he was a bad coder. Well, talk about good decisions!
8 Vicky Kaushal
Seven years ago, Vicky Kaushal graduated from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology in Mumbai with a degree in Telecom and Electronic Engineering. He would have gone on to become just another engineer, if not for the chance to assist Anurag Kashyap on the sets of Gangs of Wasseypur. Since then, the actor has gone on to deliver some stunning performances in Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), and the Cannes-conquering, Masaan (2015).
9 Varun Grover
Another engineer on the sets of Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur was Varun Grover. The comic-lyricist-screenwriter graduated in Civil Engineering from IIT, BHU in 2003. But working as a software consultant was not his cup of tea, and Grover arrived in Mumbai to try and become a full-fledged writer. After six TV shows and 15 films, Grover has finally arrived at the destination he set out for.
10 Taapsee Pannu
Her firebrand performance in Pink might take your breath away, but there's an engineer lurking behind all that screen presence. Unknown to many, Taapsee Pannu is also a Computer Science Engineer from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi. Starting out as a model, Pannu has come a long way with some catchy performances in films like Baby (2015) and the soon-to-release Pink.