Anand Mishra
Jhansi: From the tinsel town to the rugged terrain of Bundelkhand, it is a big transition for artist Sushmita Mukherjee, wife of actor Raja Bundela, who is contesting from the Jhansi Assembly segment this time.
As Bundela waits on the roadside to shake hands with school children and youths participating in a voter awareness rally on a sunny day, the 'bahu' of Bundelkhand, as she is loving called by the Raja's supporters, raises slogans of "Jai Jai Bundelkhand".
Responses, however, feeble, bring a smile on his face as Mukherjee pats Bundela, who is still tottering on his dream journey from the virtual to the real world. "After seeing the travails of the commoners in this real life, Raja could not actually go back to the reel life," she says as women members of the party cajole her to stay in Bundelkhand permanently.
It's indeed a transition for the chirpy Kitty of Pankaj Kapoor's starred famous detective serial 'Karamchand Jasoos' as she moves among the masses covering her head with a 'pallu' and greeting them in their party office with "bhale padharo ji".
"No I do not have any problem. After all it is my sasural (in-laws house) and I learnt Bundeli in short time," says Mukherjee, who will be seen in two Hollywood movies 'Roary Silence' and 'Sold'.
She has acted in over two dozen films including 'Golmal', 'Khoya Khoya Chand' and 'Rudali' and an equal number of television serials. "She continues to act in films as she is now the sole bread earner of the family with me joining full time
politics," says Bundela who contested last Lok Sabha election on Congress ticket.
"Since acting in films take more time and it was getting difficult with my political priorities, I have shifted my attention to direction, which is less time consuming," Bunedela says, who recently shot a Hollywood film That Game of Chess" in Los Angeles.
After passing out from NSD in 1978 and later from FIIT in Pune, Bundela acted in Naseeruddin Shah starrer film 'Aadharshila'. His latest films included Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Main Azad Hoon' and Sunny Deol's 'Bhagat Singh'.(PTI)