From Kareena Kapoor Khan to Alia Bhatt, there have been several actresses who have been giving hits at the box office even after becoming mothers. But, today we are talking about one such actress who married after her successful debut at the age of 15, became mother at 17, and then began her illustrious journey in Hindi and Bengali cinema.
The actress being talked about is Moushumi Chatterjee, who was born in 1952 as Indira Chattopadhaya. She made her debut as the child actress in the 1967 Bengali film Balika Badhu and became an overnight star. After the success of her first film, she wanted to continue her studies but she married Jayanta Mukherjee, the son of the legendary Indian music director and singer Hemant Kumar, at her family's request.
Talking about the same in an interview with Lehren Retro last year, the actress said, "My father was very close to his elder sister and she was in the last stage of cancer. Her last wish was to see me getting married. So, my father-in-law suggested that the wedding should happen. I even skipped my exams. I also got a film around the same time. Everything was just falling into place."
Her second Bengali film Parineeta released in 1969 and became even bigger hit, which led to her making her Bollywood debut with the 1972 film Anuraag. Moushumi didn't realise how successful she had became as she further said, "At the age of 17, I became a mother. I got my own Mercedes. I didn’t even understand the meaning of success at that time. I just used to get happy seeing my face on the big screen."
In the 70s, she became one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood as she delivered one hit after other. By the 80s, she started getting supporting roles in Hindi and Bengali cinema. Released in 1991, Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghayal was one of her most memorable roles in which she played Sunny Deol's sister-in-law. As per several reports, Sunny arrived late on sets one day and kept talking on phone. This irked Moushumi so much that she scolded the Gadar 2 actor and even told him to not ruin his father Dharmendra's reputation. It is said that Sunny apologised to the actress and became discplined on the sets.
This blunt and outspoken nature of hers got the actress replaced in many films. In the interview with the same portal, Moushumi recalled how she was replaced in Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Desh Premee and Barsaat Ki Ek Raat even after signing them. "I signed them but then I was out of the picture. Because I never compromise. I had to be ‘yes woman’ on everything. And I can’t do it", she had added.
Chatterjee's last Bollywood film was Shoojit Sircar's 2015 drama Piku, in which she was seen with Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and late Irrfan Khan. She continues to act in Bengali movies.
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