A successful Bollywood debut with mega star Shah Rukh Khan, earlier marriage to an internationally renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, a pop album with Andrew Lloyd Weber, walking on the red carpet at the Oscars — what more could anyone with stars in their eyes aspire for? However, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi threw it all away to take care of her young daughter. She is now returning to test her acting chops with her debut theatre venture, Drama Queen, presented by AGP World.
The play draws inspiration from her biography and will expose her in a never seen before avatar for the first time after a hiatus of more than a decade, Suchitra shares, “It was a conscious decision to stay around Kaveri, she was growing up and as a single-mother, it was difficult to bring her up. I don’t have an extended family with which I live, so the entire responsibility of raising her was on me. Now, that she is independent, I think I owe myself all the time and that’s how I decided to do theatre.”
Being a single-mother was a difficult phase, but Suchitra made sure that her daughter was raised in an environment that she did not get as a chid. “Having grown up in a household where there was always a ‘no’ for everything, I did not want my daughter to grow up in that kind of an atmosphere. I wanted her to be free, and express herself fearlessly. I did not want a noose around her neck. Even if we did not agree on certain things, we always had discussions later. I don’t say no to Kaveri for anything,” she adds.
Life can’t be just about one thing for her, and she gladly admits that her friends call her an ‘enthu-cutlet’! “I’m just so excited about everything in life. When I’m not painting, I’m exercising, doing yoga, hanging out with my friends or cooking!”
And when everything in her to-do list is ticked-off, Suchitra prefers packing her bags to get her adrenaline pumping. “I’m a travel junkie! I love mountain climbing and have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu. I tore a ligament there, but that hasn’t dampened my spirits. I love exploring places and Europe is my favourite destination. I was recently on a river rafting trail at River Zambezi, and it has been one of the wildest things I have ever done. It was fun, though I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” she says excitedly.
Ask her about her sense of fashion and she says, “I can’t be bothered about fashion and style. I don’t understand how people pay so much to wear someone else’s name on their bodies. I’m very individualistic that way, I’d rather prefer wearing something that I’m comfortable in than wear a brand.”
“Life,” she says, “is about maintaining a balance,” which she has been able to manage quite diligently. “One must know when to be a rebel and find wisdom. We are trained by our minds so well that all pre-conceived ideas get ingrained in us. It’s very important to break away from societal shackles and find one’s own universe,” she signs off.
