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Kush Kush Hota Hai

As she settles into the chair for the interview, on the sets of her new mega-serial Rudra, you take a closer look at the famous face. You cannot miss the disarming smile and apple cheeks you saw in her famous Tamil hit film Chinna Thambi 17 years ago. Size zero, fancy diets and stylish figure-clinging outfits, such fads don’t seem to bother Khushboo. She’s been under the arc lights for more than two decades, yet sets her own rules and lives by them.

Khushboo has many things going simultaneously. She is producing films and serials, acting (“I prefer serials to films as I like to be home by 6 every evening and don’t work on Sundays”), hosting Jackpot, a judge on a dance show , doing advertisements, attending to the children’s homework, cooking for the family, chatting with friends, checking mails, surfing the Net… Ask her about it and she puts it simply, “You constantly push your limits. Initially, you may make an effort, but later it becomes a habit. Everyone has that ability.” In fact, she is the producer and the protagonist of Rudra.

So much hype about Bollywood biggies Shah Rukh, Salman and Akshay doing TV shows, but Khushboo took the plunge much earlier. “People scorned at my decision. But I knew after marriage and kids, television was the best option — the satisfaction of doing something for yourself and being around for the family too,” she explains.

Her game show Jackpot (Jaya TV) completed a landmark 300 episodes recently. As for rapport with the participants, she says, “I am basically a people’s person. I can easily strike up a conversation with anybody. I talk so much, my husband Sundar (director and actor) is amazed at my energy,” she laughs. What about courting controversy? “Because I say it like it is. I cannot stop myself from speaking out loud hold myself from speaking when it comes to women and children’s issues. What’s most disturbing is the abysmal law and order situation. Criticism is less about your fault and more about others’ point of view.”

How does she perceive the regional industry now? “Today it’s more organised, there’s more money and the young stars know what they want. But the bonhomie of the old times is missing. ”

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