'I Never Took My Career Seriously'

'I didn't like doing jhatak-mataks.' 'I would subconsciously start feeling, 'Oh my God, my makeup man and my driver will be watching this."

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Moushumi Chatterjee recently suffered a stroke and underwent hospitalisation for a pacemaker. She is also trying to come to terms with her beloved daughter's untimely death in 2019. But Moushumi’s famous never-say-die spirit stays intact.

Her new Bengali film Aarii is timed with her 73rd birthday on April 26, and Moushumi tells Dinesh Raheja, “You have to be a little mischievous. Life will be very dull if there is no spice, so I add dalchini and laung to bring flavour.”

Was Aarii's release date deliberately planned?

The filmmakers knew about my birthday because once upon a time, I was very famous (laughs), and those who like me, remember me.

During this shoot, I was continuously getting admitted in hospitals. I suffered a mild stroke. Then I had to get a pacemaker inserted. My lungs were badly affected. I have been neglecting my health. After my elder daughter Payal passed away, my husband Babu was admitted to the ICU twice. I was praying to God that I should be able to somehow complete the movie.

You have a long way to go still. You look fit as a fiddle in the trailer.

But I was so ill!

We were shooting at an isolated place near Digha and I was attended to by a government doctor. They were debating whether to hospitalise me. I relaxed in the room for the whole day and shot at night because it was a very important sequence between my screen son and me and I did not want to cancel.

The film's teaser indicates you have a challenging role of a mother with dementia.

It is one of the best roles of my career. It was a challenge but in my own life of people, I have known people who keep forgetting. Also, at the time of the narration, it struck me that the behaviour pattern of my character is identical to my own.