To gurus with love - Bollywood remembers its mentors

New Delhi (IANS)- They paved the way forward in an alien industry, holding hands through difficult times and inspired them towards success. For Teacher's Day (Sep 5), Bollywood celebrities recall their gurus and  inspirations, who shaped their careers.

IANS spoke to some B-Town residents, who recalled the men and women who inspired them and guided them through their struggles.

Katrina Kaif: (When it comes to my guru in Bollywood) there have been so many people - every member of the (Salman) Khan family, the directors whom I have worked with, Akshay (Kumar). There are so many people who have really stood by me in the beginning and always given me wonderful opportunities and chances for which I will forever be extremely grateful and appreciative.

Sushmita Sen: I have so many mentors in life as I get inspired by a lot of people - be it Mother Teresa or Madonna. I admire those people who can live life on their own... I don't like people who follow others.

Subhash Ghai: There have been a lot of people for me like Bimal Roy, Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt because of their cinematic terms and narrating power in their stories which inspired me to a great extent.

Karan Johar: My guru would be myself in the film fraternity.

Manoj Bajpai: I had my teacher in Barry John. He taught me theatre and everything in life. Whatever I am doing and I am today is because of him.

Gulshan Grover: I consider Mahesh Bhatt and Umesh Mehra as my greatest teachers in Bollywood. They gave me great identities on the big screen and helped me make a mark for myself.

Nikhil Dwivedi: Shah Rukh Khan is my teacher as I have learnt a lot from him and he is a great person and institution to learn from.

Chunky Pandey: My Bollywood guru has to be Dev Anand. I share my birthday with him and I hope to be as young as he is at his age and I plan to hang around with even younger girls than Dev saab does.

Pakhi: I consider a lot of people my gurus - my mother is my guru in acting, my husband Abbas (Tyrewala) has been my teacher in writing and Sri Ravi Shankar is my guru in Art of Living. I have been lucky to get so many wonderful teachers who have made a difference to my life.

Shaan: My gurus are all the great composers from 1970s and 1980s who are still and will always be the gurus of anyone associated with music in the Hindi film industry.

Abhijeet: I have always looked to Kishore Kumar as my guru. My situation was same as Eklavya. He never got Dronacharya but walked ahead keeping him in mind and I did the same keeping Kishoreda in mind. My situation was also no different.

Siddharth Anand: Subhash Ghai, Raj Kapoor and Yash Chopra - they are the three people I look up to and their films with awe.

Rituparna Sengupta: There has been no guru for me. I am self-made and hard working. I wish I had a guru, may be my progress would have been better (in Bollywood). I am only thankful to the opportunities coming my way and expecting something better.

Swara Bhaskar: I am like Eklavya. I have no personal guru, but at a distance I would say Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukerji and Deepak Dobriyal would actually be my real gurus in Bollywood.