Khushalii Kumar recalls her mom was ‘very scared’ after father Gulshan Kumar’s death, didn’t want her to become actor

Khushalii Kumar made her acting debut in the R Madhavan-starrer Dhokha: Round D Corner. In a recent interview, she spoke about her late father Gulshan Kumar’s death, and how her mother did not want her to come to Mumbai and try her luck in films.

Khushalii Kumar’s Bollywood debut Dhokha: Round D Corner released in theatres on September 23. Khushalii was seen alongside R Madhavan in the film, where she played his wife Sanchi Sinha, who is taken hostage by a terrorist (Aparshakti Khurana). In a recent interview, Khushalii opened up about how she had to coax her mother, Sudesh Kumari, into letting her join films. Khushalii is the daughter of the late Gulshan Kumar, who owned T-Series. He was shot dead in Mumbai in August 1997.

Khushalii Kumar is the youngest daughter of the late Gulshan Kumar. 

In a recent interview, Khushalii spoke about facing obstacles before landing her first film Dhokha: Round D Corner, dealing with the death of her father, and much more. She said that after Gulshan Kumar’s death, her brother, Bhushan Kumar, took care of T-Series, while she became a fashion designer. Their sister Tulsi Kumar is a singer. Despite belonging to one of the most prominent families in Bollywood, Khushalii recalled how her journey to becoming an actor was not easy.

“After his (father Gulshan Kumar) death, the situation was such that mumma (mother) got very scared. She took me and my sister to Delhi. Even though he was barely out of college, bhaiya (brother Bhushan Kumar) was taking care of the company. At that time, we had over 5000 people working for T-Series… Mumma was a single woman with three kids. Naturally, she didn’t want to put anyone of us before the camera. In fact, bhaiya started coming to the forefront and began to seen publicly only in the last six to seven years; he wasn’t ‘out there’ before that. Mumma told us, ‘No matter what you do, do it behind the camera’. So, convincing her was a process,” Khushalii told News 18.

Khushalii also shared how she finally convinced her mother to let her try her luck in films and travel to Mumbai. She said, “I remember showing her scenes from 3 Idiots (2009), where Maddy (R Madhavan) sir is seen convincing his father to allow him to fulfill his passion. I used to be a fashion designer and was being appreciated for my work. I used to put all my thoughts into my work. My garments had motifs of birds and wings to depict freedom… My daily routine included going to work, coming back home and crying before mumma. I also showed her the articles that featured papa and told her over and over again that acting was his dream too. Finally, she gave in.”

It was earlier announced in 2019 that Khushalii would be making her acting debut with Madhavan in the T-Series’ film Dahi Cheeni. But the project was put on hold. Khushalii was first seen onscreen in 2015, when she appeared in a music video titled Mainu Ishq Da Lagya Rog. She has also been a part of music videos like Pehle Pyaar Ka Pehla Gham, Mere Papa and Ek Yaad Purani.