Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, who turns playwright with a play inspired by her book Drama Queen, is preparing to set the stage on fire with her stellar performance.
Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, who turns playwright with a play inspired by her book Drama Queen, is preparing to set the stage on fire with her stellar performance. She also recently got into a controversy when she tweeted against the early morning Azaan. In a conversation with indianexpress.com, the actress-singer talks about work, life as a single mother and why she tweeted about Azaan.
Q. Drama Queen is based on your life? Why did you choose theatre as your comeback?
I wrote a book The Drama Queen in 2013. It is a novel which is part fiction and part facts. It was fun to read and was received well. I was looking to dabble in theatre for a while since I was actively associated with theatre in college. I was suggested to write a play based on my book. That’s how I wrote the play. Theatre is a medium I have loved in the past as well. Theatre is evolving right now and it is a great place to perform, I don’t know what holds people back from going and watching plays. It is seen as a niche market. I had reached a stage in life where I had lost my confidence completely and I thought if I could pull this off, I could regain some confidence. I wanted to get back into the work space, the outside world a little easily.
Q. The audience remembers you from Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa with SRK. How has your life been after that? How is it being a single mom?
My life has been a roller coaster ride actually. It’s gone in unexpected directions, and I think that’s the charm of it. I am enjoying this phase of my life right now where I have time to do a lot of things I love.
About being a single mom, the industry is very warm and welcoming actually, very embracing. However, the society has a way of perceiving you, but that’s also changing, especially in cities like Mumbai. But it is very challenging to be a single mother, let me tell you that.
When my daughter was younger, I didn’t have the time. It was impossible. As I said before, being a single mother is very challenging. After a while when you start staying away from work that becomes your comfort zone, and then you need to push yourself hard to get back to the work sphere. You start questioning yourself whether you need to do it. Will you be able to do it and so on. Now that Kaveri is grown up, I have lot more time to do exciting and creative things. I have already written four books. I want to take my playwriting ahead. I am also writing a film script and I want to direct a film. I was asked to direct a film five years back, and I have written a very sweet and romantic script.
Q. Your daughter Kaveri is a star kid. Does she have issues with the paparrazi?
I don’t think star kids are getting hounded by the paps. You can seek as much attention as you want and be as private as you want. That’s how it is all over the world. If one pretends that they don’t like the attention they are seeking then there is something quite wrong there. So, if the attention is bothering you, it is okay to be upfront about it.
Q. Recently you tweeted against the morning Azaan and it created quite a stir.
I had tweeted about the Azaan before. I am a very well-travelled person. Early morning Azaan on loudspeakers is not allowed anywhere as it is in India. In India, it is about political appeasement. If there is a loudspeaker law which doesn’t allow the use of loudspeaker between 10.00 pm to 6.00 am, then why is it being flouted every morning of the year. Why can’t the decibel level and the law apply across religions? So, this is something I feel very strongly about. I am going to take this matter ahead. I just came out of the hospital as I was down with dengue. I am going to take it up with the local authorities here, and try to initiate an amicable dialogue. If it was a temple or any other place, I would have reacted the same way.
I took action against the way people reacted to my tweet because it was misogynistic. It was like being a woman how can she react like this, so let’s attack her sexually. When Sonu (Nigam) tweeted, did anyone call him a whor*? Nobody asked why he is coming home at 4.45am! This was basic misogyny that how can a woman even talk and question what was going on for so long. It didn’t bother me, but I didn’t want people to think that they can behave like this with any woman. If it was simple trolling, I would have ignored it, but this was not.