Moulding into the new normal world is key to a successful career: Susmita Mukherjee
At e4m women Achievers Summit & Awards 2022, actress Susmita Mukherjee shared her journey from the times of black & white television to the OTT era now
Actress Susmita Mukherjee believes change is the only constant and moulding into the new normal world is the key to a successful career. Mukherjee shared her journey of acting and writing in a fireside chat with Ruhail Amin, editor, exchange4media, and Karan Bhatia, Business strategy consultant, exchange4media, at Women Achievers Summit & Awards 2022.
Reflecting on the summit, the artiste confessed to being in “complete awe”. “I speak dialogues for a living. For someone who has never held a job in her life, it [the summit] was fantastic! The discussions resonated with me. I am so in awe of what the women leaders have done and are doing. Especially when they talked about pivoting – that if something does not work, do not be discouraged. I resonated with it because it happened to me when I tried to make my way into the social area for a while and was completely thrown off. For the longest time, I felt defeated. And another speaker spoke about cognitive dissonance when you are forced to do something or comply to do something you do not believe in. And that, too, made a lot of sense to me.”
Mukherjee shared that she has always been a writer but did not have the courage to write full-time as she also wanted to pursue her acting career. But she never left writing and used to ghostwrite stories and plays. “I was afraid that if I write professionally, my acting career would close shop. Because in my industry, people do not like to think of you as anything but an actor. But I never was a typical actor, having trained at the National School of Drama [NSD]. So, I always tried to break the ceiling.” Mukherjee has written a book named 'Baanjh: The Incomplete Lives of Complete Women', which was released in 2021. This book is a journey into the world of women. “It's a travelogue of my four-decade-long journey,” she quipped.
Speaking on her long and illustrious journey in the world of performing arts, she reminisced, “I started my career in 1981. The times were different and I have been riding the waves for almost four decades now. Things have changed from black and white to now. We started with Doordarshan and satellite TV in the 1990s and now with all the multiplexes and OTT. As we moved ahead culturally, we moved in our thinking as well.” She added that she has been happy to not have been stereotyped as a certain character and has always wanted to do different things. “So, how do I indulge myself or what I want to create? I write; that is how I became a writer,” she smiled, adding that her fourth book is slated for a release soon.
During the conversation, ‘Kitty’ from the popular 1990s TV show ‘Karamchand’ also talked about the struggles she went through when she shifted to Bombay after graduating from the NSD. Mukherjee remembered how she got famous after 'Karamchand' but didn’t have money at that time. However, she never thought of all those experiences as struggles as she believes that “it’s not a struggle if you enjoy doing it". She, however, did recall certain scenarios that followed the fame that she received from the show. “We suddenly became very famous after 'Karamchand', and it was a very strange feeling. We were quite famous and we did not have cars or phones but we had to buy vegetables. And the vendors would look at you knowingly. Even in Delhi, people would say, 'Yeh Kitty ki mummy ka ghar hai [This is Kitty's mother's house]'. So, that kind of fame is not what it is today because that was very organic. Today, we have media to help create an actor or a star. In those days, journalists and people would wait. And we were all so young at the game and we were all in a learning process. So, it was a very different journey and I went with the flow.”
Bhatia touched upon the subject of the change that has come in the audience's preferences and tastes in the last few decades. “And they should!” Mukherjee stressed, “Because change is the only constant. Because of the World Wide Web, we are all in a huge planetary grid and are connected. I know the power of the digital world and I know that because of this explosion in information, everything has changed. The current generation has so much information at their fingertips.” She drew reference from a speaker at the summit, “The lady spoke about 'a two-way thing – you teach us what we do not know and you have the humility and the courage to take our wisdom. Do not think that just because you are smart with your phone that you are smarter than this generation. Because, we, then become the generation of grandmothers and we have many things to share with you if you have the humility to listen. And we, on our part, have to listen to you because you are the next generation we are passing on the baton to,” she explained.
Coming to the present times, Amin and Bhatia asked her about the ‘boycott culture’ that the film industry is facing today. “There is a constant polarisation of information as everyone takes a stand. But there is an option of ignoring it. I understood the power of being able to say 'no I have a choice, I choose to ignore it'. My job is limited to the extent of an actor and a writer and I choose to ignore transferring information.”
She told the audience that she likes to play quirky roles and her upcoming works include stories related to Covid-19 with Zee Studio.
Reflecting on the summit, the artiste confessed to being in “complete awe”. “I speak dialogues for a living. For someone who has never held a job in her life, it [the summit] was fantastic! The discussions resonated with me. I am so in awe of what the women leaders have done and are doing. Especially when they talked about pivoting – that if something does not work, do not be discouraged. I resonated with it because it happened to me when I tried to make my way into the social area for a while and was completely thrown off. For the longest time, I felt defeated. And another speaker spoke about cognitive dissonance when you are forced to do something or comply to do something you do not believe in. And that, too, made a lot of sense to me.”
Mukherjee shared that she has always been a writer but did not have the courage to write full-time as she also wanted to pursue her acting career. But she never left writing and used to ghostwrite stories and plays. “I was afraid that if I write professionally, my acting career would close shop. Because in my industry, people do not like to think of you as anything but an actor. But I never was a typical actor, having trained at the National School of Drama [NSD]. So, I always tried to break the ceiling.” Mukherjee has written a book named 'Baanjh: The Incomplete Lives of Complete Women', which was released in 2021. This book is a journey into the world of women. “It's a travelogue of my four-decade-long journey,” she quipped.
Speaking on her long and illustrious journey in the world of performing arts, she reminisced, “I started my career in 1981. The times were different and I have been riding the waves for almost four decades now. Things have changed from black and white to now. We started with Doordarshan and satellite TV in the 1990s and now with all the multiplexes and OTT. As we moved ahead culturally, we moved in our thinking as well.” She added that she has been happy to not have been stereotyped as a certain character and has always wanted to do different things. “So, how do I indulge myself or what I want to create? I write; that is how I became a writer,” she smiled, adding that her fourth book is slated for a release soon.
During the conversation, ‘Kitty’ from the popular 1990s TV show ‘Karamchand’ also talked about the struggles she went through when she shifted to Bombay after graduating from the NSD. Mukherjee remembered how she got famous after 'Karamchand' but didn’t have money at that time. However, she never thought of all those experiences as struggles as she believes that “it’s not a struggle if you enjoy doing it". She, however, did recall certain scenarios that followed the fame that she received from the show. “We suddenly became very famous after 'Karamchand', and it was a very strange feeling. We were quite famous and we did not have cars or phones but we had to buy vegetables. And the vendors would look at you knowingly. Even in Delhi, people would say, 'Yeh Kitty ki mummy ka ghar hai [This is Kitty's mother's house]'. So, that kind of fame is not what it is today because that was very organic. Today, we have media to help create an actor or a star. In those days, journalists and people would wait. And we were all so young at the game and we were all in a learning process. So, it was a very different journey and I went with the flow.”
Bhatia touched upon the subject of the change that has come in the audience's preferences and tastes in the last few decades. “And they should!” Mukherjee stressed, “Because change is the only constant. Because of the World Wide Web, we are all in a huge planetary grid and are connected. I know the power of the digital world and I know that because of this explosion in information, everything has changed. The current generation has so much information at their fingertips.” She drew reference from a speaker at the summit, “The lady spoke about 'a two-way thing – you teach us what we do not know and you have the humility and the courage to take our wisdom. Do not think that just because you are smart with your phone that you are smarter than this generation. Because, we, then become the generation of grandmothers and we have many things to share with you if you have the humility to listen. And we, on our part, have to listen to you because you are the next generation we are passing on the baton to,” she explained.
Coming to the present times, Amin and Bhatia asked her about the ‘boycott culture’ that the film industry is facing today. “There is a constant polarisation of information as everyone takes a stand. But there is an option of ignoring it. I understood the power of being able to say 'no I have a choice, I choose to ignore it'. My job is limited to the extent of an actor and a writer and I choose to ignore transferring information.”
She told the audience that she likes to play quirky roles and her upcoming works include stories related to Covid-19 with Zee Studio.
