Actress, singer and single mother Suchitra Krishnamoorthi looked smashing at the opening of an exhibition of fine glass mosaic works by  a group of bubbly young girls from Saathi – an NGO which supports the rescue and rehabilitation of destitutes.
Suchitra has been involved with the NGO for the past few years and has been teaching the girls music on weekends. “When I moved back to India from abroad I wanted to get involved with charity work. So I contacted CRY who put me in touch with Saathi. I feel now that its apart of my larger calling.”
She has also raised funds for the NGO, by running the last two Mumbai Marathons. She won’t reveal figures, says the funds were “enough to sustain them and carry on their good work”. The mosaic artworks spotlighted a range of subjects: from Mother Teresa and native American Indians to landscapes and still life. Suchitra had composed a poem for  the event – its title ‘Piece to Peace’ was  an apt one. An excerpt: There’s so much in her, wanting to come out/ But she suppressed it all, filled with self doubt.../
She was churning inside, a cauldron of fire,/Filled with longing, filled with desire.../
She tried to talk before, but got tongue tied,/She wanted to speak the truth, but then she lied.../
Through her innocence and misplaced loyalty/She surrendered herself and her dignity...
But all that now is a thing of the past/This flag is flying no more at half mast..” The last time (at her first solo show at a gallery in the Kala Ghoda art precint) she hadn't been able to place me at all. Why, why? Because Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and I shared a little bit of theatre activity many, many years ago. She was performing the star part of Lucy in C Y Gopinath’s musical enactment of  You're a good man, Charlie Brown, Gopi’s young sister was Peppermint Patty. I had a bit role. I was Frieda ,whose “naturally curly hair” is a source of envy. At least, I like to think I was Frieda.
Sometimes, we rehearsed at Gopi’s house where his older brother played the keyboards and his mom provided the finest filter coffee this side of the Mithi. Much water has passed under the bridge since then. Gopi is in Africa, Suchitra remains in touch with him. Me, I never chased the acting bug, remaining content as a wordsmith. Bene est scrivener   esse (It’s good to be a writer).
Suchitra had picked up the paintbrush on the final day of the Ganesh Chathurthi festival three years ago and painted like there was no tomorrow. Ten months later, she was ready to go public. Curated by Harsh Goenka and presented by Vickram Sethi of the Arts Trust of India, her show included 56 of 76 canvasses she had painted non-stop over a frenzied fortnight. The strokes in her early paintings are hyper; her neck had stiffened in a spasm and had to be placed in a collar for ten days. Subsequently, she took some ‘technical tutelage’ from Anil Naik.
For a self-taught artist sans artschool education, Suchitra has a great sense of colour. Unsurprisingly, Ganapati is the subject of quite a few paintings: a couple seemed derivative, one bore a marked resemblance to  Munch’s ‘Scream’ which she says she wasn’t aware of till her (ex) spouse Shekhar Kapoor drew her attention to the similarity, while encouraging her with the words, “welcome to creativity”. Her father had urged her to “enjoy doing what your name means. Suchitra: a beautiful picture.”
Now, she admits to being “surprised and overwhelmed and grateful by the response my art has received,” even as “nothing in particular – but life itself”  inspires her to paint. Asked if she envisages painting as a  form of self-expression and  catharsis, she says she doesn’t question “where my art comes from. Since I started painting on Ganesh Visarjan day 3 years ago I   consider it a blessing or gift received.” The subject. mood and  emotion have equal importance for Suchitra, “but if I had to absolutely decide I would say mood. I paint in bursts of creative energy. I don’t like to confine myself to a form or style or any boundaries of external perceptions. I just try to be true to my expression and let an artwork take on its own form or life which speaks for itself.”
Regarding the brouhaha in Baroda where BJP activists were instrumental in closing down the MS University’s annual student exhibition and getting a student Chandramohan arrested on grounds of obscenity and the attachment of M F Husain's flat in Mumbai (an act that was deplored by the Supreme Court) she says, “people should leave artists alone. We are actually the sane and good ones in this corrupt world.”
I am flummoxed why her ex-spouse Kapoor could have been distracted by Preity Zinta. Actually, the papers had played up Suchitra’s verbal lashings at Preity accusing her of  being responsible for the break-up of her marriage. I wondered if she had been misquoted?
“No. I was not misquoted at all. I was quoted verbatim and it is the truth. I will stand by it forever. Like I said she is welcome to take me to court if she wishes to challenge my words.”
I don’t know about  lawsuits; but I know I’d be happy if Suchitra gave up smoking. For one thing, it’s bad for her voice. For another, every puff cuts eight seconds of your life.
 She says, “I think people should learn to mind their own business. My bad habits are nobody else’s problem.” Ouch.