Veteran actor Susmita Mukherjee has made candid confession about one of the most difficult periods of her life, stating why she had to accept films which she was not happy with. The actor, known for her films like Golmaal, Khalnayak, King Uncle, and many more, said on Instagram that after the closure of her family-owned production house, due to financial difficulties, she had no choice but to accept those C-grade films in order to pay debt.
Susmita Mukherjee says she ‘sold her soul’
In a video shared on Instagram on Wednesday, Susmita responded to a follower who asked why she appeared in films that were criticised for being sexist and disrespectful towards women. The question, she admitted, brought back painful memories.
“Someone asked me, ‘Ma’am, why did you act in bad films?’ I was shocked because it’s a very disturbing thing to go back to my life and say, ‘Why did I act in such sexist, C-grade films, films derogatory to women.’ But I worked in good films, not pornography, God, but just bad films, bad choices. So I did, and did I sell my soul? Of course I sold my soul. Did I feel good about it? I didn’t feel good then. I still don’t feel good about it, but it was my helplessness,” she said.
Bankruptcy pushed the family into a financial crisis
When describing why she had made those decisions, Susmita remembered how everything turned out differently in 2002 because she and her husband lost their media firm, Prayas Productions, in that year. The business became bankrupt in a period when the media sector was experiencing a lot of technological change, leaving them with large debts.
“If I tell you about my life circumstances, in 2002, my husband and I lost our media company, Prayas Production. It was a loan of one crore. Along with us, Track Cinema and Anil Chaudhary Production, we all went bankrupt. So debtors at the door used to come, recovery people used to come, they used to abuse us, it was a very bad time, my children were very young. So I was forced to start working again. All the money that used to come, I had to repay a loan of one crore,” she recalled.
Susmita said she and her husband worked relentlessly for the next few years to clear the debt. “My husband and I worked very hard to repay that loan after 3-4 years. So that’s why I had to do all that work; I had to make those choices,” she added.
She also wanted to support her daughter’s education
The financial obligations did not stop at repaying the money. Susmita also wanted to give her daughter the opportunity to study abroad, even though her husband believed India had equally good educational institutions. “She was doing well in her studies, so I started sending her abroad. My husband was a nationalist. He said, aren’t there good schools and colleges in India? But somehow or the other, I felt like it, so I sent her abroad. So she studied very expensively, she went to study in Australia and New Zealand. So I had to earn for that too. So I made those choices,” she said.
Reflecting on working on those projects
Even though there are some projects that she is not happy about, Susmita does not feel regret over the reasons for which she made those choices. She believes that it was worth sacrificing for the sake of her family’s future. “Of course, I have no regrets, not at all. I taught them well, they are on their feet. But because of that, I had to make all these choices. I had to do bad work too,” she said.
“So I feel every person should have their own index. Why is he working? Why is he earning wealth? So for security, for creative satisfaction, for helplessness, or to keep food, to teach children… you have to make a choice,” she explained.
She also noted that each individual has a different motivation to earn money and people end up making tough choices depending on their situations. “But now I don’t do any work that doesn’t touch my soul. Now I do exactly what I feel like; with respect, I earn well, and I’m happy with the projects I’m doing,” she said.
She ended her message by acknowledging that actors don’t always have the freedom to pick only ideal roles. “We are actors. We don’t always have a choice. We are a cog in the wheel. Sometimes we have to work to run the house,” she said.
About Susmita Mukerji
Susmita Mukherjee is a veteran actor with over four decades of career in the entertainment industry. She is known to have acted in several films, television and theater productions. She has been a part of several films like King Uncle, Khalnayak, Rudaali, Golmaal: Fun Unlimited, Dostana, Paathshaala, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Patna Shukla. On television, she worked on shows like Madhubala – Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, Ishqbaaaz among others.
