Sushma Ahuja

Sushma Ahuja is an Indian director, writer and actor who has worked on Hindi, English and Tamil films and plays.

Sushma Ahuja
Born
Sushmaa Roshan Ahuja

18th August 1952
Delhi
Occupation(s)Director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, lyricist, and playwright
Years active1969-present
SpouseSudhir Ahuja (married 1971-present)
ParentRoshan Lal Sharma

Career

Sushma began her career as a singer with All India Radio and a dancer during her teenage years, before becoming involved in the Hindi theatre circuit, where she worked on Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi performances.[1] In 1977, Sushma relocated to Madras with her family as a result of her husband's job, and then worked closely with a theatre group called "Abhudhay", which performed Hindi, Tamil and English shows. She became acquainted with film makers including Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and L. V. Prasad who encouraged her to take up film direction, so she subsequently apprenticed under Balu Mahendra, T. Rama Rao and Yash Chopra on a number of films.[1]

Sushma regularly helped work on Hindi versions of Tamil films, often transliterating dialogues. She was also credited for assisting actress Sridevi in her transition to work in Hindi films by helping her with Hindi dialogues.[2]

Sushmaa has been credited as an actress, writer and director in films. Notably, she directed an animated series titled Tara Ki Duniya for DD Metro, and Uyirodu Uyiraga (1998), a romantic drama featuring Ajith Kumar and her daughter Richa Ahuja. The film released to positive reviews, with a critic noting that the film was "a clean movie with no masala stuff" but criticized the "weak story-line".[3] Another critic drew particular praise to the role of Srividya, claiming the film was "a pleasant experience, the crowds cheered Srividya almost as much as Ajith".[4] The film failed commercially, with Sushma Ahuja blaming the result on poor promotion.[5] She has worked on the script for films including Little John (2001) and Ek Alag Mausam (2003).[6][7] Her acting roles include appearances in M. Night Shyamalan's English film Praying with Anger (1992) and Sridevi's television series Malini Iyer (2004).[8]

Personal life

Sushma Ahuja has 3 children, Saurabh, Richa, who has appeared in films such as Uyirodu Uyiraga (1998) and Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001), [9] and Suhaas Ahuja.

Partial filmography

  • Note: All films are in Hindi, unless otherwise noted.

As actor

Year Film Role Notes
1980 Yeh Kaisa Insaf? Kamla
1988 Khatron Ke Khiladi
1992 Praying with Anger Mrs Mohan English film
1996 Aur Ek Prem Kahani Neelu Nath
2004 Malini Iyer Television series

As writer and director

Year Film Credited for Notes Ref.
Writer Director
1998 Uyirodu Uyiraga Yes Yes Tamil film
2001 Little John Yes Dialogue writer for Hindi version
2003 Ek Alag Mausam Yes Also lyricist
2005 Pyaar Mein Twist Yes
2006 Jai Santoshi Maa Yes

References

  1. "Satish Kaushik remembers Sridevi: I used to call her 'madam', even after she married my buddy Boney Kapoor". DNA India. 26 February 2018.
  2. "Uyirodu Uyiraaga: Movie Review". 11 December 2000. Archived from the original on 11 December 2000.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. "Vaali (Tamil)". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  4. "rediff.com, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry". www.rediff.com.
  5. "Fame from many quarters". The Hindu. 26 February 2001 via www.thehindu.com.
  6. "Little John".
  7. Sequeira, Gayle (15 January 2019). "The Lesser-Known Story Of How M. Night Shyamalan Made His Debut Film In Chennai".
  8. "Looking beyond stardom". The Hindu. 13 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012.
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