Veteran actor Suhasini Mulay made headlines as she appeared before a special court in Mumbai on Wednesday as ‘surety’ for activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case. Navlakha has been ordered to be placed under house arrest for a month by the Supreme Court. A ‘surety’ is a person who makes herself/himself responsible for the appearance of the person released on bail by the court. Mulay said she has known Navlakha for 30 years and they used to live in the same city.
The 72-year-old actor, who was most recently seen in Netflix’ Mismatched, has worked in critically acclaimed and commercially successful films throughout her career, beginning with Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969). Her honest portrayal of a village girl earned her much appreciation, but she soon disappeared from the limelight. Mulay went on to pursue a degree in Agriculture from McGill University, Canada. But as per Mulay, she realised that the course would not be helpful for her, so she switched to mass communication and media.
“I had this notion of being able to help the farmers and signed up for a course in Microbiology and Chemistry at McGill University in Canada. Halfway through it, realisation dawned that what was taught in the course wouldn’t be applicable in India,” she had said in a 2018 interview.
Even though her films are limited in number, she has left a mark with each performance — whether it was the portrayal of housewife turned politician in Gulzar’s Hu Tu Tu, or as Aamir Khan’s mother in Lagaan.
Also read: ‘Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiya’, the 1974 animation song that spread message of ‘unity in diversity’
Worked with stalwarts
After being spotted in Sen’s film, she made her comeback to the entertainment industry by assisting Satyajit Ray for his film Jan Aranya (1975). She again collaborated with Sen as his assistant for Mrigaya (1976). But even after these experiences, she did not take acting as a full-time job, and turned to documentary filmmaking instead. Mulay made over 60 documentaries, out of which four won National Awards. But she accepted that documentary filmmaking brought her accolades, and little monetary returns.
Her comeback to acting became possible because of Gulzar. Mulay was part of the Pakistan- India people’s forum for peace and democracy, which aimed at uniting the people of countries through cultural interactions. The actress invited Gulzar to read some of his nazms in one of their programmes. Gulzar expressed his inability to come, but instead asked Mulay to send her photographs, and that is how she fetched the role of Maltibai Barve in Hu Tu Tu. Mulay won her first National Award as a supporting actress for the film.
Mrinal Sen had once said that it was surprising an actress of her talent got recognition so late in her career. The recognition Mulay received through Hu Tu Tu helped her get more roles in noted films like Lagaan (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Humraaz (2002), Jodhaa Akbar (2008) among others.
Mulay is the daughter of noted documentary filmmaker and film historian Vijaya Mulay who directed the Ek Anek aur Ekta campaign, featuring the famous ‘Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiya’ song. Speaking to ThePrint earlier about the campaign, Mulay had said that “It was needed even then, but it is more relevant today. There were prejudices against minorities even then, but today it has got an official sanction”.
Mulay also made headlines when she tied the knot at the age of 60 with Physicist Atul Gurtu through Arya Samaji tradition. Defying the conventional notion of getting married at an early age, she said one should get committed when one wants to, not because society is pushing.