Khushbu recalls when she had to use turmeric for makeup, change costume in bathrooms

Khushbu Sundar, who was last seen in Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu Vakula as Rashmika Mandanna’s mother in 2022, is looking forward to her next Telugu film Rama Banam with Gopichand, Dimple Hayathi, and Jagapathi Babu. The actor-politician also revealed that she was open to more roles in Telugu especially since she hadn't had the opportunity to work with actors like Chiranjeevi and Nandamuri Balakrishna yet. (Also read: Khushbu Sundar on sexual abuse by father at 8: 'I’m not ashamed, perpetrator needs to be...')

While Khushbu has worked in the Hindi and Tamil film industries, the actor shared that the reason why she didn't do as many Telugu films is because the industry shifted from Chennai to Hyderabad. She had already asked her family to move from Mumbai to Chennai, so she didn't want to trouble them to move once again to Hyderabad. Khushbu made her acting debut as a child with the film The Burning Train (1980). She acted in a number of Hindi films including Naseeb, Laawaris, Kaalia, Dard Ka Rishta, Bemisal, and Meri Jung. She entered south cinema with the Telugu film Kaliyuga Pandavulu (1986) which was Venkatesh Daggubati's debut.

In an interview with Cinema Express, Khushbu spoke about how times have changed since she started in films in the 1980s. She shared how they had to improvise on set and said, "There were times when we had to do make-up in dark rooms with candles and change costumes in bathrooms. When we did not have make-up, we did colour correction on our faces using turmeric powder. This hack worked especially well when we had to shoot temple scenes. You have graphics today, we had original tricks up our sleeve."

She continued, "I want to do more roles in Telugu for sure. But I am also very choosy about the work I do. It does not matter if the role is even 10 minutes long, I want that part to be significant. I have also never got a chance to work with Chiranjeevi or Balakrishna so far. If the right script comes along, I am game for it."

In Rama Banam, the actor's character is an entrepreneur named Bhuvaneshwari, who values family over everything else. She called the character quite close to who she is in real life. The actor also shared that Rama Banam, directed by Sriwass, is a very message-oriented film that promotes familial values.