Sushree's Alter Ego 💕

There are films that people watch and make famous, and then there are films that get acclaim from a discerning few before the public at large acknowledges its merit. One of the feature films in Odia, “Tejaswini”, has been selected to be screened at the London Lift-off Film Festival. You have to be fortunate to have the golden opportunity to work in the film that happens to be one of the ten entries chosen for this honour at the fest from 2000 film entries. The lead actress of a typical romantic old school film, “Hello in love”, Sushree Rath, is the protagonist in the film directed by Kunal Pattnaik. The film is based on the real-life story of K Krushna Kumari, who received the renowned Florence Nightingale award from the former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. Additionally, she received a cash prize of ₹50,000 for her commitment, hard work and perseverance towards medical services at Kukudakhandi, Ganjam. On July 25, the coordinators informed her that the 95-minute film received awards for the Best Screenplay and the Best Protagonist.

Sushree started her career through a talent hunt show in which she was the runner-up. She never struggled intensely like many others but did not get everything on a silver platter either. Her potential kick-started her career with her first movie while in Class 🔟, followed by five full-length feature films, many music videos and a few short videos. In the flick Tejaswini, she was the perfect fit, except for her lean build. She worked relentlessly on herself, gaining enough weight to look the part. As the movie was based on a real-life story, the screenplay had to be realistic and strike a chord with the audience. She had to stay on location for the duration of the shooting, which lasted four months. To portray the character realistically, she had to spend time with Krushna Kumari, the inspiration for the movie. It took almost a year to make and release the movie. The best part of this experience is that the revenue collected from ticket sales went to a blind school as a donation.