You may remember her from the ’90s as Anna from Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, or from her pop hit, Dole Dole, but Suchitra Krishnamoorthi has slowly been making a comeback, this time as an actress on stage, performing Drama Queen, a play she wrote based on the biography of the same name she released in 2013. The actress may not have been in the limelight over the past couple of decades, but she has most definitely been keeping herself busy.
“Just because you don’t do things that are in the public eye, it doesn’t mean that you don’t live any more!” Suchitra says with a laugh, and adds, “I’ve continued to do everything — I paint, I sing, I write. But most importantly I’ve been there for my daughter Kaveri and I think I’ve raised a good kid, and that’s something that’s very important to me. All of my decisions have been taken so that I don’t spend too much time away from home, so that when I’m around when I’m needed... I think it’s worked out well.”
Suchitra’s break from a career in Bollywood began after her wedding to director Shekhar Kapur, whom she divorced in 2007. But she has no regrets about her choice to stay away from the limelight. “It wasn’t a hard decision, because at the time my husband said that he doesn’t want me to act. So I continued with my singing, and once my daughter was born I got so involved with her that I didn’t miss it at all,” Suchitra says, adding, “I still don’t crave that stardom and attention — when I see these stars with mobs behind them, I think to myself, how do they live? The creative aspect of it, the enjoyment (of acting) is much more important to me than the perks and the glamour of it.”
With no plans to make acting in movies her main career anymore, Suchitra says that she’s content working on all aspects of her creative side: “I’m intrinsically not a go-getter, I just do what comes my way if I feel it’s appropriate. I’m looking forward to getting more active now, because I’m required at home as much.” Suchitra, who is glad to be coming back to the city this weekend for her play, says that she visits Hyderabad often to meet her brother and his wife. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, actually. I think it’s the warmth that people have, without the show, that I really like about the city.”
