Khushbu Sundar is all set to make a comeback to Hindi movies with Suresh Triveni’s action film Subedaar, which will release on Amazon Prime Video India on March 5. Even though Khushbu was seen opposite Nana Patekar in Anil Sharma’s 2024 family drama Vanvas, she considers Subedaar as the moment of “life coming full circle,” given she began her career as an actor with Anil Kapoor.
Khushbu Sundar was born in a Muslim family as Nakhat Khan. She was rechristened as Baby Khushboo after she became a child actor in films like Ravi Chopra’s 1980 action movie The Burning Train, Manmohan Desai’s 1981 potboiler Naseeb (in which she played the younger version of Reena Roy’s character Julie), Prakash Mehra’s 1981 potboiler Laawaris (where she played the young Zeenat Aman), Tinnu Anand’s action thriller Kaalia, in which she essayed the stepsister of Parveen Babi’s character.
Merely three years after she appeared as a child artist in VB Rajendra Prasad’s 1982 romantic film Raaste Pyar Ke, she made her debut as a leading lady opposite Jackie Shroff in Jainendra Jain’s Jaanoo (1985). But her breakthrough came when she played the younger sister of Anil Kapoor’s Arun Verma in Subhash Ghai’s Meri Jung the same year. She’s best known for featuring in the popular song “Bol Baby Bol” alongside Javed Jaffrey in the film.
Shift to South
However, only a couple of forgettable films followed Meri Jung. Her Bollywood career’s final nail in the coffin was playing the leading lady opposite Govinda in his debut film Tan-Badan (1986). A disillusioned Khushbu then turned her attention to cinema in the South. She made her Telugu debut with K Raghavendra Rao’s Kaliyuga Pandavulu (1986) opposite Venkatesh, who also made his debut in the lead role with that film. She reteamed with him for Rao’s Bharatamlo Arjunnudu, the Telugu remake of Rahul Rawail’s 1985 Bollywood action film Arjun.
She followed that up with a host of Telugu films alongside the likes of Nagarjuna, Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, and Pawan Kalyan, among others. She also made her Tamil debut with SP Muthuraman’s 1988 action film Dharmathin Thalaivan opposite Rajinikanth. She then shared screen space with Kamal Haasan, Karthik, Vijaykanth, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, and Jayaram, among others. Khushbu also made her Kannada and Malayalam debut subsequently.
Khushbu Sundar and Rajinikanth in Annamalai.
Political plunge and controversies
In 2010, Khushbu Sundar entered politics by joining the DMK. Months after quitting Karunanidhi’s political party in 2014, she joined the Indian National Congress. She served as the national spokesperson of the Sonia Gandhi-led party and often criticized the Narendra Modi-led BJP government of being a “jumla party.” However, six years later, she had a fallout with Congress, calling it a “mentally retarded” party, and alleged “no freedom to speak within the party.” She even claimed that Congress “does not want an intelligent woman.”
She then joined the Bhartiya Janata Party and continues to be a member. She also contested the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections from Chennai’s Thousand Lights constituency, but lost by over 32,000 votes. She’s currently serving as the vice president of BJP in the state. She’s come a long way from 2012, when she wore a sari with the images of Hindu gods Rama, Krishna, and Hanuman, inviting the ire of a Hindutva group.
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Khushbu, who’s married to Tamil filmmaker Sundar C, and has two daughters with him, claimed that she’s never converted to Hinduism. In 2023, she dismissed rumours that she converted for marriage, stating that her husband never asked her to convert to Hinduism. Earlier, when she quit Congress to join BKP, INC Secretary had claimed she did so under pressure from her husband, a BJP supporter.
Return to Hindi movies
Khushbu Sundar is now all set to return to Hindi films with the character of Sudha in Subedaar. While only a picture of her is shown in the film’s trailer, she attended the trailer launch on Monday in Mumbai. “Life is a complete circle. I started with Anil Kapoor in Meri Jung, and I’m back here on this dais sharing it with him. Matlab aisa lagta hai ki jaha seh zindagi shuru hoti hain waha pe wapas ana hi hain (It feels like you’re bound to return to where you started your life),” said an emotional Khushbu at the event.
“When I was doing Meri Jung, I was just a 14 year old with stars in my eyes, and you are working with Anil Kapoor and Subhash Ghai and on the other hand, Jaanoo with Jackie, and all of that. But the kind of dedication I have seen with Anil ji, I have hardly seen it with anyone else,” added Khushbu. She also shared that she hopes that Subedaar is just a start, and the offers keep coming her way in Bollywood.
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