New Delhi: Veteran actor Susmita Mukherjee revealed that she and her husband were pushed into bankruptcy after their media company collapsed, leaving the family with a debt of nearly Rs 1 crore. With creditors knocking at the door and the responsibility of funding her children’s education abroad, the actor had little choice but to keep working.
Mukherjee admitted in a recent reel on Instagram that she took up C-grade films in desperation. “I sold my soul,” she said.
She recalled someone asking her why she acted in bad films.
“This is a fact, and it’s disturbing to admit. I did films that are derogatory to women… Not pornography, god, but bad films, bad choices,” she said.
Mukherjee explained that while she wasn’t proud of some of the films she did, paying off her debt and ensuring her children had a secure future mattered more than protecting her image.
Sending children abroad
After solving her debt problem, which took 3-4 years, she took on the challenge of sending her children abroad.
“One went to Australia and the other one to New Zealand for undergraduate studies, which was very expensive, and I had to earn for that also. For these things, I had to take work in these films,” she said.
Mukherjee stressed that everyone has their own reasons for earning money, and for her, the circumstances left little room for idealism.
“I did not do work that was extremely bad, but I’m not proud of it,” she said in Hindi. “We have to clarify what we are earning for. I’m not very proud, but it was the need of that time. Now I don’t do any type of work which doesn’t touch my soul. We’re actors; not every time we have choices.”
A National School of Drama graduate, Mukherjee has spent over four decades in the entertainment industry, appearing in popular films such as Golmaal (2006), Dostana (2008), Paathshaala (2010), Batti Gul Meter Chalu (2018), Patna Shukla (2024), and several television classics.
Recently, she has also returned to the stage with her solo play Naaribai, which explores the lives of three women—Sushmita, Sunaina, and Naaribai. The play is about conversations between women from different classes and castes.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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