22-year-old Suchismita Routray was working as an assistant cameraperson in Bollywood until the novel coronavirus pandemic changed her life. Due to the lockdown, Suchismita was forced to return to her hometown, Odisha’s Cuttack, where she is now earning a livelihood by selling momos. The pandemic cost Suchismita her job in Bollywood, which is why she had to return to Cuttack and life came full circle.
Until a year ago, Suchismita was hobnobbing with top actors and actresses. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that a pandemic will throw her life back to square one and she will have an instant fall.
“After completing my studies I started working as an assistant editor in Odia Cine industry in 2013, later I moved to Mumbai in 2015 for better prospects in Bollywood. I worked as an assistant camera person in Bollywood for almost six years before the pandemic struck,” said Suchismita while talking to India Today.
However, her dreams plunged down as the extended nationwide lockdown left her jobless. She exhausted all her savings in a couple of months, and after struggling for about 8 months in Mumbai for victuals, she was forced to return to her hometown, Cuttack, in January this year. However, going back home had its own challenges as Suchismita was left penniless after the lockdown ended and didn’t have the funds to even return to her hometown. In this hour of need, Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan stepped in and came to her, and other crew members’ rescue.
Suchismita told India Today, “I didn’t have the money to return home. Thankfully Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan funded our entire crew to return to their respective hometowns.”
Once she reached home with no savings left, Suchismita pondered over the idea of selling authentic momos, the recipe of which she had learnt from her roommate in Mumbai.
Presently, Suchismita makes momos and sells them near her home at Jhanjirimangala in Cuttack. She is now earning Rs 300- Rs 400 per day and is staying with her mother as she had lost her father in her childhood.
Suchismita has worked as an assistant cameraperson in popular Bollywood films and under big banners. She has worked in nearly 20 odd films including Kalank, Chehre, Atkan Chatkan and Brahmastra. She has also worked in several TV serials and ad films.
Suchismita has worked with many Bollywood heavy-weights including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Emraan Hashmi. She was the only woman in the camera team and dreamt of becoming a cinematographer one day.
“I had lots of projects in hand to work with, even I was about to start a project in Mumbai before the pandemic broke out. Later, the situation deteriorated during the pandemic. Following the outbreak, as I was unable to find any new assignment, I had to return to my native place in February,” said Suchismita.
She added, “I have not done any professional course for video editing and camera shooting. To learn how to handle a camera, I had worked for three months under popular cinematographer, director and actor Binod Pradhan. Then I worked under cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee and director Sejal Shah.”