Golmaal fame Susmita Mukherjee recalls starring in ‘C-grade films’ to repay ₹1 cr loan: ‘Not proud… I sold my soul’

Bollywood veteran Susmita Mukherjee opened up about a difficult phase in her life when she and her husband faced a financial crisis. She said that she had to take up ‘bad films’, which she described as "exist" and “derogatory to women to repay a loan of ₹1 crore.

Susmita Mukherjee on taking up ‘sexist, C-grade films’

Responding to criticism over her choice of film in the past, Susmita Mukherjee explained why she needed the money. She revealed that she and her husband were burdened with a debt after their production company shut down in 2002. She said that she took up projects to repay the loan and send her kids abroad for their studies.

Taking to her Instagram account, Susmita Mukherjee said in a video, “Someone asked me, 'Ma'am, why did you act in bad films?' I was shocked because it's a very disturbing thing to go back to my life and say, 'Why did I act in such sexist, C-grade films, films derogatory to women.' But I worked in good films, not pornography, God, but just bad films, bad choices. So I did, and did I sell my soul? Of course I sold my soul. Did I feel good about it? I didn't feel good then. I still don't feel good about it, but it was my helplessness.”

“Recovery people used to abuse”

Mukherjee explained that she and her husband's company, Prayas Productions, became bankrupt, leaving them with debt.

“If I tell you about my life circumstances, in 2002, my husband and I lost our media company, Prayas Production. It was a loan of one crore. Along with us, Track Cinema and Anil Chaudhary Production, we all went bankrupt. So debtors at the door used to come, recovery people used to come, they used to abuse us, it was a very bad time, my children were very young. So I was forced to start working again. All the money that used to come, I had to repay a loan of one crore,” the Golmaal actor added.

Additional expense

She further revealed that she and her husband were able to repay the loan in the next 3-4 years. “My husband and I worked very hard to repay that loan after 3-4 years. So that's why I had to do all that work; I had to make those choices,” she added.

She added that she wanted her kids to study abroad, for which she had to work harder. “She was doing well in her studies, so I started sending her abroad. My husband was a nationalist. He said, aren't there good schools and colleges in India? But somehow or the other, I felt like it, so I sent her abroad. So she studied very expensively, she went to study in Australia and New Zealand. So I had to earn for that too. So I made those choices,” she said.

Towards the end of the video, Susmita Mukherjee clarified that she has ‘no regrets’ about her past choices. "But because of that, I had to make all these choices. I had to do bad work too,” she said.

Who is Susmita Mukherjee

Susmita Mukherjee is best known for films like King Uncle, Khalnayak, Rudaali, Golmaal: Fun Unlimited, Dostana, Paathshaala, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Patna Shukla. She also starred in TV shows like Madhubala – Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, Ishqbaaaz and more.