Susmita Mukherjee went bankrupt, debtors abused her: ‘Did C-grade films, sold my soul’

The veteran actor further revealed that she had to start in those films to repay a huge loan. “If I tell you about my life circumstances, in 2002, my husband and I lost our media company, Prayas Production. It was a loan of Rs 1 crore. Along with us, Track Cinema and Anil Chaudhary Production, we all went bankrupt. Because at that time, a new era of technology had come- Angel Investment and Venture Capital- and we didn’t know anything about technology. So obviously, we went bankrupt, and that’s what happened.”

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She added, “So debtors at the door used to come, recovery people used to come, they used to abuse us, it was a very bad time, my children were very young. So I was forced to start working again. All the money that used to come, I had to repay a loan of Rs 1 crore. My husband and I worked very hard to repay that loan after 3-4 years. So that’s why I had to do all that work; I had to make those choices.”

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Apart from the loan, Susmita Mukherjee also wanted to gather funds to send her daughter abroad. “Along with that, the Bengali mother in me woke up. She (her daughter) was doing well in her studies, so I started sending her abroad. My husband was a nationalist. He said, aren’t there good schools and colleges in India? But somehow or the other, I felt like it, so I sent her abroad. So she studied very expensively; she went to study in Australia and New Zealand. So I had to earn for that too. So I made those choices.”

However, nothing monetarily fruitful came out of her choices of good films. “And the funny thing is, the good work, unfortunately, nothing came out. I didn’t do very bad work, but yes, I am not so proud of a lot of work I have done… So I feel every person should have their own index. Why is he working? Why is he earning wealth? So for security, for creative satisfaction, for helplessness, or to keep food, to teach children… or you want a big car, a big lifestyle, a big house, a bungalow, you are earning for that. You have to take a choice,” she said.

The actor explained, “Mine was very simple. I used to run my day month to month. I used to teach, and I have lived a middle-class life. We all have to find out why we want to earn wealth. We have to be very clear about the why. Why do you want to earn wealth? And when you know it, then you have to do it. Like I knew why I wanted to earn wealth. And because of this, I did something like this. I am not so proud of the projects I’ve done, but okay. It was right for that time.”

Susmita concluded by sharing that she now she doesn’t prefer taking up the work that doesn’t touch her soul. The actor mentioned that she now earns well and is happy with the projects she does.

The veteran actor was last seen in the Netflix crime-thriller series Dabba Cartel (2025). She has not announced any upcoming project yet.