The eminent actor-turned-politician, Khushbhu Sundar joined the ruling party BJP in 2020. The Tamil actor had been an unparalleled fighter for Congress for six years, where she often targetted senior BJP leaders, tagging them on her social media handle, especially Narendra Modi.
Recently, during her welcome conference, she remarked that it is with the time that she has realized that in order to move towards nation development, we need a political leader like Narendra Modi.
The actress is to ring in her 51st birthday on September 29 this year. Here’s a look at her journey so far:
Khushbu Sundar Life Story
Though Khushbu Sundar considers herself to be an atheist, she was born in a Muslim family as Nakhat Khan in Mumbai in West Andheri. Khushbu Sundar is often seen as a rationalist who always has an opinion of her own. She has never seen shying away from presenting her thoughts over anything. Her friends call her a workaholic.
Member of the football club
Khusbhu is an honorary member of the Richmond football club in Melbourne, Australia. In 2016, she became the number one ticket holder of the Richmond football club and also became the first female number-one ticket holder in 2017. She is the only Indian female to be honored with such a position in the Australian Football Club.
Food dishes and products after her name
While she was popular during her Tamil acting career, various food dishes and products were named after her. The rice cake was especially very famous after her name. Apart from this, Khushbu Jhumkis, Khushbu sarees, Khushbu coffee, Khusbhu sharbat, were all named after her.
Idolized by her fans
She was so popular as a Tamil actress that she became India’s first actress for whom her fans constructed a temple and worshipped her.
Khushbu Sundar Acting Career
Indian film actress, producer, TV presenter, and now a political leader, Khusbhu Sundar has worked in more than 200 movies in various Indian languages, predominantly in South India. She has worked for films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, and Hindi.
She started her acting career with ‘The Burning Train’ (1980), as a child artist, and acted her first lead role in ‘Janoo’ (1985), starring opposite Jackie Shroff.
Her first South Indian movie was ‘Kalyuga Pandavulu’ (1986), starring opposite Venkatesh.
Khushbu Sundar Affair
Khusbhu dated Tamil actor Prabhu Ganesan while shooting for the movie ‘Chinna Thambi’ (1991). They were supposedly staying in a live-in relationship for four and a half years, to which Prabhu’s father didn’t receive approval and they finally broke up.
Khushbu Sundar married the actor, producer, and director Sundar C in the year 2000. They have been blessed with two girls, Avanthika, and Ananditha, and named their production house Avni Cinemax after them.
Khushbu Political career
It was in May 2010 that she left her acting career and marched towards politics. In 2010, she joined DMK in Chennai. She was sidelined there by MK Stalin, Karunanidhi’s son and the party chief.
In a matter of four years, she left DMK to join Indian National Congress in 2014, where she joined as a spokesperson, representing Tamil Nadu. She ended up being the star campaigner in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in the 2016 Assembly polls as well.
But what made her leave Congress after years of her relentless performance in the party? Though she was respected for her debating power in Congress and was able to present her opinions publicly even when the party had different opinions on the same, she was again sidelined by the senior leaders of the party which made her say goodbye.
Khushbu Sundar Controversies
Lets check Khushbu Sundar Controversies
Opposed by Hindutva groups
Khushbu wore a saree with images of Hindu Gods, Krishna, Ram, and Hanuman and this led to a huge controversy in December 2012. The Hindu Makkal Katchi threatened her with protests and demanded an apology. She had a savage reply to that “I am not answering every Tom, Dick and Harry. Why should I? I don’t need to do that. Why are they worried about what a woman wears. Don’t they have any other work to do?”.
She was filed with several cases for disrespecting the Hindu Gods and Goddesses by sitting cross-legged with her slippers infront of the idols while a pooja was performed IN Chennai on November 22 2007.
Her opinion over pre-marital sex
In 2005, in one of her interviews, she had commented that it was okay if girls wanted to indulge in pre-marital sex as far as they were being cautious and preventing themselves of getting pregnant and getting STDs.
This caused an outrage and she was accused of spoiling Tamil womanhood, which was filed with cases yet again, which were later on dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2010.
Morphed photo by Maxim
In January 2006, Maxim posted a morphed photo of Khushbhu with the body of a woman in a bikini. It was Maxim’s first Indian edition. Khushu filed a defamation case against the same.
Her support for Jallikatu
Khushbu has always been supportive of the bull-taming sport of Jallikatu. She even visited a farm in Australia in order to see how cattle are raised abroad.