Veteran actor Usha Nadkarni has shared details about her personal life, revealing that she has been living alone since 1987.
Speaking in a recent interview with Rajshri Marathi, the 80-year-old actor said she has grown used to living by herself over the years. She also reflected on ageing, loneliness and the personal sacrifices that came with a career spanning nearly seven decades.
Nadkarni, who is widely recognised for playing Savita Deshmukh in Pavitra Rishta, said she no longer fears living alone, even though she sometimes wonders whether anyone would immediately realise if something happened to her. She added that she is not afraid of death and believes it is impossible to predict how a person's life will end.
Usha Nadkarni Said Her Son Was Raised By Her Mother
This is not the first time Nadkarni has spoken about the personal cost of her acting career.
In an earlier interview with Pinkvilla, she said her son spent much of his childhood at her brother's house because she was constantly busy with Marathi theatre. According to Nadkarni, her mother largely raised him while she travelled for performances.
She said she would visit him whenever work allowed, but there was no fixed schedule because she often had multiple stage performances in a single day.
Nadkarni also recalled that her son often tells her she "only gave birth" to him and that his grandmother became his real mother because she was the one who raised him.
Usha Nadkarni Previously Opened Up About Her Childhood
In another interview, Nadkarni spoke about growing up in what she described as a difficult home environment.
Appearing on Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa's podcast, she alleged that her father, an Air Force officer, was physically abusive towards her, her siblings and her mother. She described him as a "violent" man and recounted incidents from her childhood.
According to Nadkarni, her father would become angry over small things, including newspapers that were not folded neatly or school books that were not properly arranged. She said he would tear them up in anger.
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She also alleged that she was once injured after her father attacked her with a koita, a curved blade, while she was trying to intervene during an incident involving her brother. Nadkarni said she suffered an injury to her arm but still performed in a stage play the following day.
Her Mother Initially Opposed Her Acting Career
Nadkarni has also spoken about the challenges she faced in pursuing acting.
During an appearance on Sony TV's Tum Ho Naa – Ghar Ki Superstar, she recalled that her mother initially opposed her decision because acting was not considered an acceptable profession for women from middle-class families at the time.
According to Nadkarni, she briefly left home after her mother threw her belongings out of the house. She later returned and continued pursuing her dream of becoming an actor. Looking back on that period, she said she had wanted to act since childhood and encouraged people to pursue what they truly wanted to do.
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A Career Spanning Nearly Seven Decades
Usha Nadkarni has worked across Marathi theatre, television and cinema, as well as Hindi films and television serials, for nearly seven decades.
She remains best known to a national audience for portraying Savita Deshmukh in Pavitra Rishta. Over the years, she has also appeared in films including Vaastav: The Reality, R... Rajkumar, Bhoothnath Returns and Rustom.
Her recent comments about living alone have renewed interest in the personal journey behind one of Indian television's most recognised character actors.
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