Happy Birthday Moushumi Chatterjee: A look through her journey in Indian cinema

Moushumi Chatterjee was a hit actress in her heyday, churning out one smash after another and not in the least disposed to nurture the egos of directors and filmmakers. It’s no surprise that she’s been cast in more films than one can count on one hand. Moushumi, whose true name is Indu, couldn’t care less. In an interview with Firstpost she says, “I was very clear about what I wanted from my career. And it wasn’t money or fame. I was in this for the fun of it.” Moushumi’s career began with Tarun Majumdar’s superhit Bengali film Ballika Badhu. She was 19 at the time, but in this lovely story based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short work Samapti, she played a much younger child-bride. Later, Jaya Bhaduri played the same role in Uphaar. In fact, Moushumi’s fate seems inextricably linked to  Jaya’s. Moushumi tells me that she was signed on to do Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Guddi, the 1970 film with which Jaya became an immediate and endurable cine icon.  According to Moushumi, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, a family friend of her father-in-law singer-composer Hemant Mukherjee, saw her and immediately offered her Guddi. Thereafter  Moushumi had no idea what happened. Without her knowledge, the project was passed on to Jaya.

Guddi was not the only film Moushumi lost to  Jaya. In 1972  Gulzar began shooting Koshish with  Sanjeev Kumar and Moushumi. Then overnight, as it were, Moushumi was replaced by Jaya. No explanations were provided by any one of the parties involved in the illicit talent exchange program. When years later  I asked  Moushumi point-blank about Koshish, she turned uncharacteristically diplomatic on me:  “I would never compromise with my dignity for a role. Koshish is a chapter best forgotten and buried. Many years later Gulzar (no ‘Saab’ please note)  signed me for Angoor with the same co-star as Koshish Haribhai (Sanjeev Kumar). There is  something  called justice  in this world.”

This evasive answer is so uncharacteristic of the outspoken Moushumi. Amitabh Bachchan once told me he was always nervous to work with her, as one never knew what she would say next. Their films together like  Benaam and Manzil were flops. Decades later they finally had a hit together in  Shoojit Sircar’s Piku. Mr Bachchan said she had not changed at all.  She says, “I don’t need to change. I am still the same mooh-phat Indu. I have never hesitated to call a spade a  spade. People are scared of my unstoppable tongue, especially people who spend all their energy and time trying to be diplomatic."

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Diplomacy is one thing Moushumi doesn’t subscribe to. When she was directed by Aparna Sen in The Chinese Wife, Moushumi accused her director of being jealous of her looks, hence making her look old and haggard in the film. Aparna sensibly didn’t react. Ever since her debut in Hindi cinema with Shakti Samanta’s  Anurag, Moushumi became associated with hit films. Her second Hindi release  was  Raj Khosla’s  Kuchche  Dhaage . So impressed was Khosla with  Moushumi’s potent mix of impishness and oomph that he signed her again for Prem Kahani with Rajesh Khanna . But the hero wanted his favourite heroine, Mumtaz, and  Moushumi was out.

“The story of my life,” she giggles, not the least perturbed by the setbacks.

In 1975, Moushumi did  Manoj Kumar’s Roti Kapada Aur Makaan where she was much acclaimed for her role as the rape survivor. But the song that gives the film optimum recall value is Lata Mangeshkar ’s Hai hai yeh majboori. It was filmed with the film’s other heroine Zeenat Aman .

“Oh, that was my song. It was to be shot on me. But I  was pregnant and I  didn’t want to get wet in the rain. So it was taken away from me,” says Moushumi. This claim is not corroborated by  Manoj Kumar.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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