Moushumi Chatterjee: God is not kind to me, he is partial to me

Moushumi Chatterjee, 60, is chullbula, honest and compassionate. She does her puja and reads the namaz and considers herself spiritual. She lives for others, but has a mind of her own. Her original name was Indira (petname still Indu), but was changed to Moushumi when she entered films as there already was an Indira Gandhi and an Indira cinema theatre in Calcutta. We met her over a cup of coffee just ahead of the release of her film Piku in her penthouse apartment in the Gitanjali building in Khar that was earlier a landmark address — her father-in-law Hemant Kumar’s most famous Gitanjali bungalow that was broken down by her husband after his father’s death and made into apartments.She talks to Bombay Times about why she still misses Hemant Kumar, her respect for Amitabh Bachchan and why she will never work with Aparna Sen again. Excerpts:
Why do you feel that a woman should not be asked her age?
How many years does a woman live her life on her own terms? That’s the reason a woman should not be asked her age. As a woman, you are always compromising with either your parents or husband or children or even friends.
What are you like?
I am mischievous and childlike. Ages back, when I entered the film industry, Raj Khoslaji told me at the time of shooting Kuchhe Dhaage, ‘Moushumi, you are either 8 or 80.’ So, I am naïve in many ways and mature in others. I remember when Dharamji (Dharmendra) came to sign me for Ghayal and I told him, ‘Why don’t you take someone else?’ He said, ‘No one in your generation has the innocence you have.’ I am also basically very lazy by nature. When I got married, my father told my father-in-law Hemant Kumar, ‘She is a wild horse. Leave her loose, otherwise, she will fall herself and will also make you fall.’ I was always naughty, but never a spoilt brat. You can make me do anything with love. But I always tell my daughters, ‘Don’t give shit and don’t take it either.’
How did you become the daughter-in-law of the Hemant Kumar?
Ever since I was very young, I was a movie buff. I would bunk school to go and see a film. My grandfather was a judge and my father in the army, and I come from a very conservative family. One day, I was returning from school when a director, who lived close by, saw me. He wanted to cast me in Balika Badhu and came to my house to take my father’s permission. My father initially said no till the director’s wife, who was also a big actress, requested him to allow. I was in Class V only and my film was a jubilee hit. I also won a Filmfare Award for it. After that everyone wanted to make me their daughter-in-law or marry me. Hemant Kumar was the music director of the film and he was a big director and singer. He liked me and also wanted me to marry his son Jayant Mukherjee (lovingly called Babu). When I was in Class X, my aunt was in the last stage of cancer and wanted to see me married. So, within a month, my father-in-law Hemant Kumar, who I called Kaku (initially) and Baba later, got me married to his son and exported me to Mumbai. Shakti Samanta offered me the role of a blind girl in Anuraag that my father-in-law, being an artistic person, encouraged me to do. It became a jubilee hit. I was not just a minor wife, but also soon became a minor mother.
Talk about your father-in-law Hemant Kumar?
He was both my father and mother. He died of a heart attack 26 years back in 1987. He was very affectionate and a very kind-hearted human being. After my parents, if I really respected someone, it was him.
Do you have friends in the industry?
I don’t have friends in the industry. I am lucky. And I am lucky that I don’t have any enemies either.
READ: Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee back after 36 years

Do you consider yourself a lucky person?
I will say God is not kind to me, he is partial to me. At the age of 18, I had a daughter in my lap, had a Mercedes car that I had bought with my own money. And I have been lucky to have such a good husband and daughters. And I had an awesome father-in-law who never made me feel in Mumbai that my parents are not here. When he died also, I kept howling saying, ‘Kaku, Baba… get up.’ Industry has tolerated a lot of nonsense of mine and had so much patience with me. My career was unplanned. I was just about 18 when I had my first child and I remember my doctor telling me, ‘For the first time in my nursing home, a baby is having a baby.’ I had already done Anuraag and everybody told me don’t have the baby. They all thought that I was not serious about my career as I also returned the money to many producers and I too thought that that was the end and that I would just settle down. But then films after films clicked and I bounced back. I am a positive person and don’t think that anything happens without a reason. I know that you can be a big celebrity, but at home if you are still a celebrity or a queen and don’t do what you have to, then you cannot make a home. I learnt from a very young age and am very down to earth and I know that everything is very temporary, be it your name, fame or money. Today it is there and tomorrow it will not be there. The only thing that will remain is your behaviour, your sincerity and your thinking.
Do you miss your father-in-law?
Yes. Every time I fight with my husband, there is nobody to support me and I miss him then.
What did Hemant Kumar like the most about you?
That I came to know only after he expired as one of his friends, Ajit uncle, told me. He said, ‘You know Indu, once me and Hemant were coming back from one recording in the car, and I asked him, ‘There were so many offers for Babu. Why were you adamant about Indu?’ And I believe my father-in-law told him, ‘Ajit, I have seen so much of the world, being a celebrity, but maine iss bachchi mein jo mann dekha na, woh maine kahin paaya nahi aaj tak.’ I miss him and really wish that I could have done even more seva for him than I did.
Talk about your experience working with Amitabh Bachchan after many years in Piku?
I have a lot of respect for Amitji not just only because he is a great actor, but given the facelift he has given to our industry. He is still way ahead of his generation. I once took my sister-in-law to meet him and she was frozen. I am very proud of him.
Did you have a favourite co-actor?
I am actually a Chintu fan. Rishi Kapoor is my favourite actor, but he is a spoilt brat. Chintu was arrogant at times and he still is but he is my most favourite as he is an awesome actor.
Your last film was Goynar Baksho that was directed by Aparna Sen. How was your experience?
Aparna Sen is a very good writer and an awesome director, but I will never work with her again. I feel that she does not give credit to anyone working with her and she manipulates things. To me, she is a phoney person who does not want to share credit with people who have worked on the film. Even though I was the actress of Goynar Baksho, she tried her level best to push her daughter Konkona. Though let me tell you that I am a big fan of Konkona as an actress. Konkona is also a genuine person. Aparna is an insecure person even though she is so good looking and has so much talent.
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