Simply Suchitra
Suchitra Krishnam

The death of Indipop culture killed my music career, says Suchitra Krishnamurthy, in a chat with Manpreet Kaur

Suchitra Krishnamurthy, who released hit albums like Dole Dole, Dum Tara in the 1990s, has faded away from the music scene. The actress-singer says the decline of pop culture in the country led to the death of her music career.

"I dislike the thought of giving voice to other actors; it has never been on my cards. What excited me was albums: a medium through which I could express myself, but that culture has died now. Pop culture doesn’t exist at all in the industry. Which is what made me take a backseat as far as music is concerned," Suchitra said in an interview.

A mix of Indian folk and classical music with modern beats, IndiPop was popularised by the likes of Usha Uthup, Remo Fernandez, Alisha Chinai and Baba Sehgal. It, however, faded away from the scene due to the emergence of music bands and the remix culture.

Suchitra’s stint with showbiz started in 1987 with the TV series Chunauti and in the same year she featured in Peanuts The Musical, based on the Peanuts comic strip. Seven years later she made her big screen debut with the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.

Her first album was Dole Dole and after that she released Aha and Zindagi, the title track of which was composed by Adrew Lloyd Webber.

Suchitra, who quit acting after marrying filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, admits she has been selective and conscious with the choices of films in her career.

After a long gap, she was seen in My Wife's Murder (2005) starring opposite Anil Kapoor. Recently, she featured in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann.

"I have been very selective with the kind of films I have done. I can’t say that I am on a full-time swing. I keep myself busy with a lot of different things. I only do roles that suit me and I believe I could do justice too," said Suchitra, who is currently judging Imagine TV’s reality show.

She has teamed up with percussionist Bickram Ghosh to judge the 13-episode show Sunfeast Dream Cream Junior Star Super Singer that went on air May 1.

"I readily accepted the proposal when Saregama approached me. I was excited to sit on the judge’s hot seat for the first time. Moreover, I liked the concept. All the shows usually target the metro cities, but this was different as it focusses on bringing out the talent from the smaller towns.

"The winner will get an opportunity to sing in Katrina Kaif's album whose music has been composed by A.R. Rahman," she added.

Suchitra revealed she keeps herself busy with her daughter and is dedicating time to her third book, which is yet untitled.

"My debut novel The Summer of Cool was based on the ethos of growing up in typical cooperative housing in Mumbai and the second book was titled The Good News Reporter. My third book in the series of four is called Swapnalok Society."Asked if she would like to direct a film, she replied: "I would love to direct as I feel it is a great medium of putting across an individual’s expression. It’s just that it needs a lot of hard work and consumes a lot of time, which I am personally short of as of now." — IANS