Kids are Kushboo's priority

Cinemimi [Friday, April 20, 2012]
SINGAPORE - Tamil actress Kushboo Sundar belongs to that era of Indian cinema when costumes were garish, plots a never-ending hyperbole and the vamp in skimpy outfits a norm. It was the era that gave birth to Silk Smitha.

While Kushboo didn't match Silk's notoriety, her seductive acts and provocative clothes in some of her early films created enough controversy to make her a household name in south Indian cinema.

She acted in over 100 films in five different languages. Her unapologetic and gutsy performances ensured her longevity.

Today's Kushboo is a contradiction of that southern siren. She is married with two daughters.

Runs a production house with her director husband Sundar C. and hasn't acted in films for quite some time.

She says her preferred medium is television as it gives her the flexibility of being a middle-class housewife and mother who "scrubs her own toilet".

The 41-year-old actress came to Singapore recently to promote her serial Paartha Gnyabagam Illaiyo which runs on Kalaingar Asia on Singtel Mio TV.

She told tabla!: "Films will take too much of my time, which I don't have. I can't afford to work more than five days a week. My kids are a priority at the moment."

Her sensuality of the 1980s and 1990s may have been toned down but Kushboo still remains controversial.

She openly supports women's right to have pre-marital sex, remarks which led to 22 court cases being filed against her in 2005.

Plays a negative character in Paartha Gnyabagam Illaiyo, who attempts to kill her husband in the very first episode.

And has jumped headlong into Tamil Nadu politics, joining the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

"I am what I am. I speak my mind. I do what I think is right," she says.