Spirituality in life of

celebrities

USHA UTHUP
Age: 61
Profile: A pop singer,
Born a Tamil, groomed
in Mumbai & Kolkata,
and in the north.
Started singing a small
nightclub in Chennai at
the age of 20.
She has sung in 15
Indian languages & can
also sing in several
foreign languages.

 The Our Father is the

universal prayer for me. It goes

beyond every religion, dogma &
ritual. This may sound
blasphemous for most people,
but I could be in a temple,
saying my mantras, but in my
mind I am always saying Our
Father.
When Im on a plane, I put on
the headphones, switch off the
music, and sing Our Father
quietly.
My biggest religious influence
came from my convent school. I
was always going and lighting
candles in the grotto.
Jesus Christ is the face I
visualize whenever I think of
God.

There is a God
in every
ELEVATOR

Manhattan,
July 2005

4 Years ago, I was stuck up in an elevator at

the New Yorker hotel, Manhattan on the 22nd
floor.
I pressed all the buttons, even the
EMERGENCY button, but NO RESPONSE!
On the PhoneReceptionist-: Theres been a problem, but
were sorting it out. Ill get back to you.
In the state of panic, I prayedOur Father,
Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done,

after an hour ,
When the door opened, the
lobby was full of people & when they saw me they
started shouting and clapping.
Later, I came to know it was a short circuit that led
to a small fire that had stopped the elevator.

God gives you these

knocks to remind you to
never be complacent.
God wants you to always
remember Him.

SRIRAM PANDA
Age: 55
Profile: An actor-directorscreenplay writer, he
joined
the Bihar school of Yoga
at
the height of his career as
a
Yoga preacherAnd renamed himself
Swami
Nitya Chaitanya.

 I burst into the Oriya film scene

in 1972 like a whiff of fresh air.
I acted in about 30 films in my
career period of 20 years.
It was my popularity with
tobacco which made me to quit
everything, and look for
spirituality.
I felt guilty and decided to
change myself and & others
through spiritual ways.
Gods place is all around us, in
everything and anything we can
experience. The core of mans
spirit comes from new
experiences.

JAYASUDHA
Age: 51
Profile: An actressturned-legislator in
Secunderabad.
She was a famous
south Indian actress
through the 70s and
80s.
She won 6 Nandi
awards for best
actress & 1 Film fare
award for best

 There has always been an

unspoken connection with Jesus.
When I used to get frequent
eosnophilia attacks as a teenager,
I used to pray at the Vellankanni
church, and I get cured soon.
Again on May4,1985, when I was
jet skiing with my husband, I had
fallen into the water! I didnt
know how to swim, and I
involuntarily yelled out Jesus
though I was not a devotee at
that time, and I had a vision of
the Almighty. The next thing, I
knew , I was being dragged onto
the water scooter by my husband.

 And, 16 years later, I choose

Christianity in Chennai, in
2001.
I can leave everything for Him,
even my family. They know that
too.!
God can only give us wisdom,
and help us when we are at a
cross-road in our lives.

The Lord
speaks to
me.

RESUL POOKUTTY
Age: 38
Profile: He is a sound
engineer who
graduated from the
Film and Television
Institute of India,
Pune.
He won an Academy
award & a BAFTA for
best sound mixing for
the film Slumdog
Millionaire.
Also designed sound

 When I was about to leave the

hotel for the airport , to fly
back to Mumbai after the
International Indian Film
Academy awards ceremony.
Suddenly, I had an intuition ,I
felt, I would loose my baggage.
Well, I was not shocked to be
told at Mumbai that my bag
was missing. For me, this is
what you call spirituality.
God or Allah, is a very personal
deity, one who takes care of
even the smallest things.
When you show truthfulness &
commitment to your
job,friends,colleagues and
family members, you are being

 A seer asked me to touch an

alphabet in the Quran. And
he said that my skill lies in
my fingers. Incidents like
these only, made me believe
that there is a God above.
God is an intangible
universal force, but we can
feel it.
Imagine youre sitting
under a tree and looking up
at the sunlight streaming
down through the leaves.
For me, this is the face of
God.

The seer
killed an
atheist

G R GOPINATH
Age: 57
Profile: He is
considered the pioneer
of low-cost air travel in
India, and is the vicechairman of Kingfisher
Red.
Captain Gopinath has
served Indian Army for
8 yrs.
The French government
has awarded him the

 More than the question of

existence of God, I wonder
about the mysteries of the
world, the beauty of the
nature, the vastness of the
creation.
I feel that when it comes to
God, He is limited by the
limited perception of human
perception.
When I need spiritual
awakening, I go to the
Himalayas, walk around the
hills, all by myself and try to
distance myself from the
rest of civilization.
Harmony is possible when

The cheap flyer

walks to
peace

SUDHARANI
RAGHUPATHY
Age: 65
Profile: A
Bharatanatyam
daneuse & artiste of
Doordarshan since
1976.
Has performed before a
number of visiting
dignitaries to India and
even at UN
headquarters in New
York on Human Rights
Day in 1981.

 I believe in one supreme being that

governs us all, in the power of
karma.
Whichever faith you belong to,
everything has common
denominator-that theres one
almighty.
The Bible says seek and you shall
find. Thats what I did. Meditation
helped me focus, analyze the
situation dispassionately & ask the
right questions.
In 1993, when my plane to Pakistan
was hijacked. Many of my copassengers were old people &
needed timely food and
medication.
Throughout the ordeal, I was able to
help them focus on the positive side.

These celebrities, in
spite of their tough and
busy schedules, spare
time for God
Then,
t
'
n
a
C
Y
?
?
?
.

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