Charismatic and enterprising German actress Suzanne Bernert is a successful actress in Indian cinema and television with powerful and memorable portrayals in ‘Honeymoon Travels’, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, Marathi film ‘Gallit Gondhal Dillit Mujra’ and many more.

Suzanne was born in Detmold in Germany but later moved to South of Germany and was enrolled in a catholic school which was a cultural shock for her as prior she had never seen a Nun.

Early in life she was quite fascinated with acting and also learnt Western Classical Ballet. When Suzanne was 19 she enrolled for an acting course from Heidelotte Dehl and also seeked guidance from American producer Susan Batsan in Berlin. Her father is a retired customs officer now and her mother is jeweler designer.

Moving to Mumbai after getting movie offers, Suzanne settled in well and also received a lot of appreciation for her work. In 2014, she won the Maharashtra Kala Bhushan Award for her contribution to Marathi cinema. In 2018 she won the Rajasthan International Film Festival Award for her outstanding contribution to Indian Cinema and Television and in 2019 the Young Environmentalists Programme presented Suzanne Bernert with Women's Achievers Award (2019) for "Living the Change" that Gandhiji spoke of and the grit and glory of being an outstanding example of celebrating womanhood.

In an exclusive interview with Guru Vijay Shanker, Suzanne reveals how she started off with "thora thora Hindi aati hai" to winning critical acclaim for praiseworthy performances in English, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali serials and movies.

Can you tell us something about what it was like shooting your first film in India?

While I was shooting for my first movie ‘Destined Hearts’ by Anant Duseja in Dubai, I met the production controller Raj Puthran who always has been quite helpful. He introduced me to Director and Producer Ajay Sinha. I worked in his movie and after that he asked me to come to Mumbai. After my first ever holiday in India, a completely new and exciting country he offered me a role of Firangi Bahu, Zee TV with  "thora thora Hindi aati hai". That is how I my unexpected journey and career in India started off. 

From there you moved on to much bigger films and serials.

I was lucky as I was working with right people at the right time, with Ekta Kapoor's ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay’ in which I played Doris Bajaj, wife of business magnate Tushar Bajaj. I was a part of this show from 2006 until it wrapped up. The long hours, the different climate and food and the rapid pace with equally long waiting breaks in between was a big challenge and I used to fall sick more frequently than ever before. Shooting with fever was an experience and one really stretches to be able to do the job well. TV is day to day and a race. You need a thick skin.

How did you meet up with Ekta Kapoor?

I did meet Ekta, but since my Hindi was not all that good, there was not much of an interaction. Her mother Shobhaji was always very kind and warm. Meanwhile I got to visit Prithvi Theatre and was quite fascinated and met theatre personality and actor Akhil Mishra who wanted me to act in an adapted version of Neil Simon's play ‘Hello Spring’ and we started working together and later in 2009 I got married. We had a court marriage. We got married as per Hindu rituals; we have formed our own theatre unit known as Vijeta as well.

You played a Greek queen in one of your serials. Can you explain?

I played a Greek queen Helena in the serial ‘Chakravartin Ashok Samrat’. It was a character of a lifetime. The scripts that came on the day of shoot were sanskritised Hindi with words like "Uske Paschaad". I had to know the dialogues properly otherwise the lip-synching would not match as my voice got dubbed. If you shoot as a lead negative character, there wasn't any time to dub myself. Sumit Kaul and Sameer Dharmidhikari played my sons and we had quite some struggles in making it look convincing as the age difference is not that much. My husband helped me a lot with the proper pronunciation for the role.

What about your work when you played the role of Sonia Gandhi?

For ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, it was not easy to play Sonia Gandhi, while I felt I don't resemble Sonia Gandhi, Vijay Gutte felt that with makeup, wig and costume the look would come together. We had rehearsals and workshops. This is the role which is most talked about and controversial too. While many have lauded my performance there are mixed reactions too.

What about your other work you’ve done?

I was invited to play Julia Campbell in Aparna Sen's Bengali movie ‘Iti Mrinalini’. I felt somebody was trying to play a prank when I received a call from Aparna Sen, but it was really her. It was a wonderful experience to shoot in Kolkata and work along with Konkana Sen Sharma. In the Marathi film "Gallit Gondhal’, I was excited to play the character of a tourist who is asked to perform Lavani (dance) to help Makarand Anaspures character to win the elections. Getting your own Lavani is a big deal in Maharashtra and to this day I perform on stage and on TV. So I have played different characters and completely try to get in to the skin of the character which has always been quite exciting.

So this means you have been getting a lot of offers for a lot many films too?

I have started getting offers now, but I have refused as I don't want to take any risk.

How did you spend last year during the lockdown? Was it easy for you?

What I regret most in the pandemic is that I could not attend the Golden Wedding anniversary of my parents in Germany, but had lot of video chats and we surprised them with a Wish Video that included friends from all over, even the German Ambassador to India, Walter J Lindner. I am happy to tell you that I have learnt to wear the sari on my own and I have done the Inner Engineering course of Sadhguru and practice Isha Kriya that keeps me grounded in this difficult phase.

By Guru Vijay Shanker

Guru Vijay Shanker is a professional Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Bharata natyam exponent, dance teacher, choreographer, actor and eminent arts critic for over four decades based in Mumbai. He can be contacted on email: vijaydance@gmail.com