Suchitra Krishnamoorthi secured a place in the audience’s hearts when she essayed the role of Kundan Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa and her innocence made everyone fall in love with her. While the actress-singer essayed the role decades ago, the memories of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer film are still fresh in the minds of Suchitra’s character as Anna. In her recent interview with Pinkvilla, the songstress that she gave up acting in those early years because her husband at the time, director Shekhar Kapur, was not supportive of her career.
The Bandit Queen director got married to Suchitra in 1999 and they separated in 2007. The estranged couple has a daughter together, Kaveri. Suchitra also opened up about how she saw herself, Suchitra shared, “People hold me in such high esteem and I have always treated myself so casually, not giving myself that bhao (importance). I have always undermined myself, underplayed myself.”
The Jabse Dekha songstress shared that she fought her parents for years, and even left their house at one point just so she could be an actor. But a few years later, Shekhar objected to her dreams as well. “First, I was fighting my parents, who didn’t want me to do something. Then, I was fighting my husband, who also did not want me to act,” she said. When the interviewer expressed shock at this revelation, Suchitra added, “Which is why I completely gave up acting.”
Reflecting on the past, Krishnamoorthi shared that she feels like how could someone ask her to give up on her career and dreams but at the time, she complied. She also called out the “patriarchal” thinking behind the same.
“Why should somebody object to you doing something? It’s a very patriarchal mindset but there’s been too much water under the bridge now. I quit after my debut movie which was a super-duper hit. That was the reason that I quit. I continued with my music because that wasn’t such an issue or so threatening but with acting it was very clear. In retrospect, I feel what the hell, but at that point I was like haan theek hai, hota hai (that’s okay, it happens.),” concluded Suchitra.
