It has often been an unwritten norm in Indian cinema for actresses to stop taking lead roles in films after marriage. Although in present times, this prejudice has changed, a few decades back it was followed to the bone. Many yesteryear top actresses gave up on cinema altogether after marriage. However, a very significant and noted exception is Moushumi Chatterjee who actually started her film journey as a lead actress post-marriage.
Moushumi Chatterjee had appeared as a child artist in the Bengali film Balika Badhuin in 1967 after which she received many offers but she decided to concentrate on her studies instead. When she was in Class 10, an aunt of hers, who was on her deathbed, wished to see her married. To fulfil her wish, Moushumi got married at a very early age to Hemant Kumar’s son, Jayant Mukherjee. Since her in-laws hobnobbed with film personalities, director Shakti Samanta once spotted her at a family event and wanted to cast her in Anuraag. Her husband encouraged her and she thus made her debut as a lead actress with the film.
In her film career, Moushumi Chatterjee has worked in many superhit films like Do Premi, Angoor, Manzil, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Swayamvar and Sabse Bada Rupaiya. Apart from films, Moushumi also entered politics. In 2004, she contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket but lost. In 2019, she joined the BJP.
In numerous interviews, Moushumi Chatterjee has expressed that her celebrity crush had been Dev Anand from long before she appeared in films. She had also worked with Jeetendra in many hit films. One of these is Maang Bharo Sajna, which became a huge success. In an old interview, the actress was asked to name the most handsome actor of her time. Without hesitation, she responded that no one could match Vinod Khanna’s charm. She admired his “classic hero-like” looks, stating that he was, in her opinion, the most handsome actor of that era.
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