Former Bollywood actor Mamta Kulkarni said in a recent interaction that her finances are in the doldrums and that she is barely surviving. Kulkarni’s comments come after reports suggested that she paid around ₹10 crore to become the Mahamandaleshwar of the Kinnar Akhara.
She said in a recent episode of Aap Ki Adalat: “Mere paas ₹10 crore kya ₹1 crore bhi nahi hai. Mere bank accounts seize kar diye hai government ne. Aapko malum nahi hai main kis tarah se reh rahi hoon. Mere paas paise nahi hain, kisi se udhaar leke ₹2 lakh, voh bhi jo guru ko dakshina deni hoti hai. (Forget ₹10 crore; I do not have even ₹1 crore with me. The government has seized my bank accounts. You don’t know how I am surviving. I have no money. I had to borrow ₹2 lakh from somebody to offer as ‘dakshina’ to my guru when I was made Mahamandaleshwar).”
She also revealed that three of her apartments are infested with termites since they have remained closed for the past 23 years. “I cannot even begin to describe the financial crisis I am going through.”
On January 31, Kulkarni was expelled from the Kinnar Akhara. Not just Kulkarni, Mahamandaleshwar Laxmi Narayan Tripathi was also ousted from the religious order for anointing Mamta Kulkarni.
Kinnar Akhara founder Rishi Ajay Das said in a statement that Kulkarni was inducted into the Akhara and designated as the Mahamandaleshwar without his knowledge.
The statement read: “Without following any religious or akhara tradition, and without making her a renunciate first, she was directly conferred the title and patta of Mahamandaleshwar. Therefore, in the interest of the country, Sanatan Dharma, and society, I am reluctantly compelled to relieve her from the post.”
In January, the former Bollywood actor took ‘sanyas’ by performing her own ‘pind daan’ and was soon anointed as the Mahamandaleshwar of the Kinnar Akhara at the Maha Kumbh Mela. After being inducted into the Akhara, Kulkarni changed her name to Shri Yamai Mamta Nandgiri.