Sudha Shivpuri

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Posted: 20 years ago

Sudha Shivpuri

Even the security at Balaji Studios knows her only as Ba in Kyunki…Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Sudha Shivpuri did theatre, was married to actor Om Shivpuri and acted in films like Swami and Burning Train.

Yet she became a household name only after 60, when Ekta Kapoor cast her as the matriarch of India's best-loved saas-bahu soap.

Sudha started acting in plays to "keep the kitchen fires burning" when she was in Class 8, after her father died and her mother fell ill. She doesn't have any pictures of those difficult days.

Sudha later did a stint at Jaipur Radio, then joined as a student of the National School of Drama's third batch in 1955.

She knew Om from her radio days, but fell in love when they were NSD batchmates. The two started a theatre group called Dishanter, but soon shifted to Bombay for Om's film career.

Sudha did a few films, but after daughter Ritu and son Vineet came along, she tired of hanging around on the sets. She stayed at home until Om's sudden death, running first acting classes, then a general store.

Sudha returned to TV and Kapoor took her on for Kyunki…
Over the years, Sudha has played Ba as a gentle, firm and progressive mother-in-law and now great grandmother.

Her serial demise is imminent, but she's already been signed on as a more playful grandmother in Yeh Meri Life Hai. (Actually, no😆)

1. Sudha with Om in Delhi when she was pregnant with Ritu in 1970

2. Sudha in a staging of Tughlaq in Jaipur

3. Om and Sudha on their wedding day in 1968

4. In a portfolio picture

5. Dressed for a puja with Om and Ritu in 1973

6. In a staging of Adhe Adhure in Pune, 1968

7. With baby Ritu

8. Om and Sudha with three-year-old Vineet

9. In 1976, with Om and Ritu

10. As Ba in Kyunki...

11. With Ritu and Vineet now

12. In Swami, with Shabana Azmi