Kamal Ghorui
Veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee, who has shared a long marriage of more than five decades with music composer Jayanta Mukherjee, recently reflected on how dramatically her life changed during her teenage years. The actress, who got married at just 15 and became a mother by 17, went on to become one of Hindi cinema’s most celebrated stars in the 1970s, starring alongside icons such as Rajesh Khanna, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan in films like ‘Roti Kapda Aur Makaan’, ‘Angoor’, and ‘Kacche Dhaage’.Moushumi opened up about how her engagement and marriage happened soon after her acting debut in the Bengali film ‘Balika Badhu’. Recalling that phase of her life, the actress said in an interview with NDTV, “Everything happened for a reason. I was in the 10th standard, but I was engaged after Balika Badhu only because my father-in-law, Hemanta Mukherjee, was the music director of that film. So their family and our family became a thing. And at that time, everybody wanted to make me their daughter-in-law; everyone wanted me as their wife.”She further described how overwhelming the attention around her had become at the time. “It was crazy. Subhey se shaam tak line hoti thi. That’s why I’m thoroughly spoiled. And then my badi bua (aunt), I was very attached to her; she used to live in Bhawanipur. And she was in the last stage of cancer when we got to know. She held my father-in-law’s hand and said, ‘Hemanta Babu, can I see her wedding?’ Because I was the last girl from our family, my father-in-law said, ‘Yes, you will.’ And within a month, the marriage took place.”Moushumi also remembered shifting to Bombay after her wedding and how her family ensured she felt comfortable in an unfamiliar city. Sharing those memories, she said, “So that’s why I came here, Bombay. I bought my dollhouse, my small doggy. And then one of my friends also went back and gave her 10th exam because she also missed one year. She was with me. My father-in-law ensured I got everything. I should not feel left alone. I used to play with my dollhouse the whole day. My father was very protective of me. He was like a mother and father, both here in Bombay.”Over the years, the actress has often spoken candidly about how quickly adulthood arrived for her. In an earlier interview with Lehren, she had recalled missing her examinations around the time her marriage was arranged. Reflecting on becoming a young mother while also experiencing stardom, Moushumi had 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.”Moushumi Chatterjee and Jayanta Mukherjee had two daughters, Megha and Payal. Their younger daughter, Payal, who had been diagnosed with diabetes at a young age, passed away in 2019 at the age of 45.
