Katrina's mother lives in a village in Madurai with no electricity: 'She enjoys helping people'

While Katrina Kaif has built a successful career in Bollywood and established herself as an actor and entrepreneur, her mother Suzanne Turquotte has chosen a very different path. Away from the spotlight and comforts associated with fame, Suzanne has spent years working for underprivileged children and communities in rural Tamil Nadu.Suzanne, who was based in London, moved to Tamil Nadu in 2008 and founded the NGO Relief Projects India. Her initial focus was on providing free evening tuition to children studying in government schools in rural communities. Over the years, the initiative expanded into a broader community development organisation with programmes focused on education, healthcare and child protection.In 2015, Suzanne also established Mountain View School. What began as a small nursery catering to fewer than 30 children, largely from economically disadvantaged villages, eventually developed into a nursery and primary school with more than 300 students.Katrina has often spoken about her mother’s dedication to charity and the impact it had on her upbringing. Speaking to ABP around a decade ago, she said, “My mom stays in Madurai where she has started a school for children. She is a teacher. She teaches there. And she is happy. It is because of her charities and blessings that I have reached these heights.”The actress also revealed that her mother’s lifestyle is far removed from the luxuries she herself enjoys today.

“It is not easy to live there. They don’t have access to electricity. It is available for 12 hours. Sometimes, when I want to FaceTime my mother, I cannot, because there is no electricity or sometimes even internet. So we have a normal call,” Katrina added.For Katrina, her mother’s work was not something she discovered later in life. Charity and helping those in need had been part of her childhood and shaped the way she and her siblings grew up.Speaking to Colors Cineplex around seven years ago, Katrina recalled, “The countries that I grew up in when I was very young… they were always countries which had a lot of people who lived below the poverty line like we do here. It is something I have always been exposed to because my mom has done charity work. We didn’t grow up in a life of privilege or luxury. We had a very frugal and basic childhood. That’s the life I come from.

I came from starting out, working in the industry and having absolutely no money. Needing to work to be successful and if I wouldn’t have been successful then I would have had to look for another job where I could have security.”Katrina also spoke about the school her mother built and continues to run.“She has this school in Madurai. This is a school she built from scratch. I think we have about 250 kids there. She teaches at the school.

She has made curriculum, she trains the teachers there,” she said.The actress has also acknowledged how demanding her mother’s life in rural Tamil Nadu can be, particularly given the lack of basic conveniences.“A person who lives in a village where there are hours in a day when there is no electricity there. It’s incredibly hot and because you don’t have electricity, so the ACs are not there. She lives in this condition and she has always done because she enjoys helping people.

It’s a tough life. It takes a different kind of person. I don’t know if I could do that. My mom has been there for more than 15 years I think,” Katrina said.Despite her demanding professional schedule, Katrina continues to support her mother’s work. She contributes a portion of her film earnings towards the school and has also used money earned through reality television shows to support the initiative.A source told Mid-Day, “Katrina loves the work her mother is doing and posts about it on social media sometimes. However, she doesn’t like to bring her contributions to attention. Since she is busy with her film commitments and hence cannot always visit the place, she donates money.”Suzanne was married to Mohammed Kaif, but the couple separated when Katrina and her siblings were young. She subsequently raised all eight children as a single mother while continuing her charitable work.