He briefly took on an engineering job and began accompanying his father to film sets.[2][6] He studied acting at Kishore Namit Kapoor's academy and worked as an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap in the two-part crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur (2012).[6][7] Kaushal has described fond memories of working with Kashyap, whom he considers as his mentor.[8] He also began working on stage with his first acting job in Manav Kaul's production of Laal Pencil.[6] In film, Kaushal played minor roles in Kashyap's productions Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012) and Bombay Velvet (2015), and the experimental short film Geek Out (2013).[6][9]