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Khushboo Sundar and Suhasini Maniratnam light up IFFI 2025 with live recreations, acting tips and memories, inspiring performers with stories of mistakes, mentorship and craft.
Khushboo Sundar and Suhasini Maniratnam delivered one of IFFI 2025’s most inspiring sessions, blending nostalgia, technique and lived experience.
On a remarkable day at the 56th International Film Festival of India, the Kala Academy witnessed an extraordinary continuum of cinematic memory. Hours after Muzaffar Ali and Shaad Ali took the stage to revisit the unfinished dream of Zooni, the festival space once again shifted into a sanctuary of art, lineage and lived storytelling. This time, the spotlight fell on two of Indian cinema’s most cherished performers, Khushboo Sundar and Suhasini Maniratnam.
Their session, titled “The Luminary Icons: Creative Bonds and Fierce Performances,” was not merely a conversation. It became an emotional extension of the festival’s earlier tribute to Zooni. If the father–son dialogue revealed the fragility of films that remain incomplete, Khushboo and Suhasini revealed the resilience of actors who continue to breathe life into every frame across decades.
A Warm Opening and a Seamless Chemistry
The session opened with a felicitation by filmmaker Ravi Kottarakara. Almost instantly, the stage turned electric. Suhasini’s quick wit and Khushboo’s warm laughter created an atmosphere that was both intimate and masterful.
Suhasini began with a humorous memory from her early days in the industry, recalling how people often questioned whether she was truly related to Kamal Haasan. The icebreaker naturally led into a deeper conversation on identity, craft and the evolution of performance.
Khushboo on Being “Soft Clay” and Trusting the Director’s Vision
When Suhasini asked Khushboo about the divide between mainstream and art-house cinema, she dismissed the distinction with clarity. For Khushboo, every project is a space of surrender and collaboration.
She described herself as “soft clay,” shaped by the director’s vision. Recalling how Bharathi Raja tailored a character around her real-life skills as a swimmer and horse rider, she spoke of the beautiful trust that can fuel an actor’s journey.
The Unpredictability of the Box Office
Suhasini shifted the discussion toward intuition. Can an actor sense a hit while listening to a script?
Khushboo cited the phenomenal success of Chinnathambi but also opened up about films she deeply loved such as Captain Magal and Jathi Malli that didn’t perform well. The unpredictability of commercial cinema, she said, keeps every actor grounded.
Suhasini’s Philosophy: Every Scene Is a New Beginning
Suhasini spoke to the younger actors in the audience with a clarity that only experience can offer. Every scene, she said, should be approached as though one is beginning a new film. She emphasised that actors inevitably bring pieces of their personal truth into the characters they play.
Khushboo added that her process begins with imagining her character’s physicality. She narrated an incident where a director asked her to wash off all makeup before a scene to preserve authenticity.
Language, Fear and the Early Struggles
The conversation then became a tapestry of anecdotes, struggles and humorous memories. Khushboo recounted her early Tamil cinema days when she would write down her dialogues and even her co-stars’ cues in Hindi. Suhasini played a clip from a Kannada film where a challenging monologue took twenty nine takes, much to the delight of the audience.
They spoke candidly of forgetting lines in front of Mammootty, being nervous before major scenes and learning from the frankness of senior actors like Chiranjeevi and Vishnuvardhan.
A Live Masterclass on Emotional Expression
Suhasini demonstrated how tiny shifts in expression can convey shock, understanding or vulnerability. She explained the precision of hitting the mark and maintaining emotional continuity. It was an impromptu masterclass for every young actor in the hall.
Two Unforgettable Recreated Moments
The session’s emotional peak arrived when Khushboo recreated an iconic sequence from Chinnathambi. She finished with tears in her eyes as the hall erupted in applause.
Moments later, Suhasini performed a scene from Kannaki and was unexpectedly joined by dance master Kala, who stepped onto the stage to guide her movements. The spontaneous duet stunned and delighted the audience.
A Shared Spirit with Zooni’s Storytelling Legacy
The festival’s celebration of Muzaffar Ali’s Zooni earlier that day lingered in the air. Just as Zooni spoke of a film halted by circumstance yet alive in memory, Khushboo and Suhasini’s session reminded audiences that the spirit of performance remains indestructible.
Their stories reflected the emotional labour behind cinema: the fears, the mistakes, the reinventions and the relentless devotion to the craft.
A Session That Became a Celebration
The interactive Q&A wrapped up a session that felt less like a workshop and more like a living archive of Indian cinema. Through their reflections, Khushboo Sundar and Suhasini Maniratnam reminded everyone present that cinema is not only watched. It is inherited, carried and kept alive by artists who continue to grow, adapt and inspire.
On a day when IFFI honoured both unfinished dreams and fulfilled legacies, these two women reminded audiences why performance remains the heartbeat of every story.
Yatamanyu Narain is a Sub-Editor at News18.com with a passion for all things entertainment. Whether he’s breaking the latest Bollywood news or chatting with rising stars in the OTT world, he’s always on the hun…Read More
Yatamanyu Narain is a Sub-Editor at News18.com with a passion for all things entertainment. Whether he’s breaking the latest Bollywood news or chatting with rising stars in the OTT world, he’s always on the hun… Read More
November 21, 2025, 23:09 IST
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