Moushumi Chatterjee

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Moushumi Chatterjee was born in Kolkota (then Calcutta) to an Army officer Prantosh Chattopahdyaya . Her father was a judge . She was always a movie buff and would bunk school to see a film. Though she came from a very conservative family but the director of films who lived close by had noticed her and wanted to cast her in the film Balika Vadhu. Initially her father was against her doing a film but had finally agreed and when she did the role in Balika Vadhu she was only in Class V and the film went on to be a super hit and she had won the Filmfare Award for her role. Her aunt was on the death bed when she was barely 15 and wanted to see her married and around the same time Hemant Kumar the famous music director of the film and the singer as well liked her and wanted her to marry his son Jayanta Mukherjee ( also known as Babu) so to fulfil her aunt’s dying wish she was married soon after

Moushumi Chatterjee was married to Jayanta Mukherjee son of famous playback singer Hemant Kumar. The couple has two daughters one of them is and actress. Moushumi’s stint with the Bollywood started after her marriage which was quite unusual during that time but encouraged by her father-in-law she pursued a career in filmline.

Career in Bollywood between 1967 and 1984 Moushumi Chatterjee made her film debut in the Bengali hit film Balika Badhu in 1967 directed by Tarun Majumdar at the tender age of 15. The film was remade in Hindi later as this film was a super hit and went to be one of the best Bengali films in that year which also proved to be a turning point in her life as she was flooded with offers from Bengali movie makers. She was married young though she was keen to complete her studies but ended up acting as she entered the family of a renowned playback singer Hemant Kumar and thus her husband also encouraged her to move ahead and take up the film offers. Moushumi Chatterjee’s debut in the Hindi films started with Anuraag in 1972 as a blind girl directed by Shakti Samanta . The film was very successful again and she earned the nomination for the Best Actress from Filmfare. Anuraag won the Best Film Award by Filmfare . After Anuraag she continued in 1973 and acted in many films including Naina opposite Shashi Kapoor, Kuchhe Dhaage with Vinod Khanna and Us Paar with Vinod Mehra. In 1974 she was already an established actress in the Hindi Cinema when she did the thriller film Benaam with the then struggling actor Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna in the suspense drama Hum Shakal. Her most successful film was in Manoj Kumar’s block buster with multistar film Roti Kapda Aur Makaan in which she is a rape victim. The scene of her being raped is considered to be one of the most disturbing scenes in that ear to which her acting was so natural that she once again earned the nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Award by Filmfare. She further performed in successful films like Swarg Narak with Jeetendra, and her role in this film is mix of comedy and family drama. She also acted in the film Anand Ashram with Rakesh Roshan and with Sanjeev Kumar in the film Angoor. Moushumi Chatterjee was paired romantically opposite to Vinod Mehra in several films and most of the films did well starting with Anuraag, Us-Paar, Raftaar, Umar Qaid, Mazaaq, Zindagi and Jyoti Bane Jwala . After which she did a film Manzil in 1979 for Basu Chatterjee . Chatterjee’s Bengali film with Uttam Kumar Ogu Bodhu Sundari was released in 1981 which became a successful film . In 1982 she ventured into trying out her stardom in Marathi film a cameo role for the song, ‘Tumhi Adkitta Mi Ho Supari’ from the film Bhannat Bhanu. As a main lead heroine in Bollywood films she has acted not only with the lead actor Vinod Mehra but also some of the super stars as Shashi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna who were well known and established actors of that time. Her successful films with them were Ghar Pariwar , Bhola Bhala and Prem Bandhan . In 1984, Moushumi Chatterjee again worked as a lead heroine in three films Maang Bharo Sajana, Ghar Ek Mandir and Pet Pyar Aur Paap. Her last film as the lead actress was in the Bengali film Pratigna in 1985 after which she went on to only supporting actress roles in Hindi films. The phase between 1985 and 1991 for Ms. Chatterjee From 1985 to 1991, Moushumi Chatterjee started getting offers to do character roles and supporting roles of mother, Bhabi and thus the transition from the lead to supporting happened and she paired opposite to Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt and with Sunny Deol in the 2nd lead role for the film Ghayal. Moushumi Chatterjee has further acted in the 1990’s in the films Ghar Pariwar and Aa Ab Laut Chalen both opposite to Rajesh Khanna , Santaan and Prateeksha in 1993 and Udhar Ki Zindagi with Jeetendra . Some of the films in which she has acted in supporting roles were in the 1995 film Keemat, in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum in 1999 and Hum Kaun Hai in 2004. In 2006 Moushumi Chatterjee did a film with Tanuja Chandra’s Zindaggi Rocks . A film with the Indo-Candadian production of a mix of Bollywood-Hollywood in 2003. Some of her Bengali films and her career graph Moushumi Chatterjee rose to fame with her films in Bengali as the lead heroine that started with Balika Badhu in 1969 followed by Parineeta in 1969 in the same year, Anindita in 1972, Anand Ashram in 1977, Ogu Bodhu Sundari in 1981, Prarthana in 1984, Shatarupa in 1989, Kari Divye etc followed by Nater Guru in 2003, Bhalobasar Anek Naam in 2005 , The Japanese wife in 2010 and Goynar aksho in 2013. Moushumi Chatterjee was last seen in the film Piku a film by Shoojit Sircar with Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. In this film she has acted as a cool middle-aged woman with a very modern outlook. Piku also saw Moushumi Chatterjee share the screen space with Big B after a gap of 36 years as they had starred together in the lead roles in their younger days.