As she becomes a year older, Moushumi Chatterjee says, “Main Paagal Thi, Paagal Hoon.”

Sun ri pawan in Anurag, Mere bachpan tu jaa in Kachcha Dhaage, Ae mast hawa in Tumhari Kasam, Mehengai maar gayi in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Rimjhim gire saawan in Manzil, Dariya kinare ek bungalow in Sabse Bada Rupaiya, and Milne se pehle in Aag Hi Aag are some of the greatest hits of Melody Queen Lataji.

“Do you know I had just married Jayanta?” Moushumi recalls asking Lataji at their first encounter. I was just fifteen years old. I met Lataji, the legendary Hemant Kumar’s daughter-in-law, during a gathering.

Lataji and my father-in-law had a close relationship. something I was ignorant of. She took off her payals on her own initiative and wrapped them around my ankles when we were introduced. Could you see Lataji reaching down to round my ankles with those payals? I wasn’t old enough to understand the significance of that particular moment. My existence is troubled by the fact that everything occurred too quickly.

When Moushumi portrayed the child bride in Ballika Badhu, she was only 14 years old. She finds it impossible for any modern heroine to portray a child bride. “They had to pad me up when I filmed the picture. The saree used to bother me so much. I was informed I could take it off when the director yelled pack-up. When the director would say, “Pack up,” I would start to toss the saree off the set since I was so young. I had to be dragged to the cosmetics area. Where could you find such purity these days?

With some of the greatest filmmakers of the 1970s and 1980s, Moushumi produced some amazing movies. “I constantly think I’m deserving of less. My career never motivated me. However, things happened such that I married and went to work right away. I did a very good job of balancing the two boats of acting and housework. Should I say so myself? There was no dissatisfaction in my household. My father-in-law, the renowned composer and vocalist Hemant Kumar Mukherjee, was very encouraging when I first started my profession, as I recall. I succeeded somehow.
Is there a little child in Moushumi who is still whole today?

Moushumi laughed heartily. “This paagal is the main one. That was expressed by Raj Khosla, with whom I worked on Kachche Dhaage and Daasi. I’m not naive; I’m infantile. Everybody has a kid inside of them. It is your responsibility to care for the kid and ensure its survival. Being naive even after working in this field for so long is a blessing. If I could still do excellent work despite my resolve to never compromise with my conscience, it would only indicate that God was on my side.

I could go to bed at the end of the day knowing exactly what I had done. The male majority in our field has persisted. It remains the same even now. Forget about the entertainment sector; male ego is a problem for women in all spheres of life. Men act like six-year-olds or like sixty-year-olds. Some celebrities of the era experienced premature success. The triumph was too much for them to handle. Everybody has a unique destiny.

I had great luck. It’s surprising how long I’ve survived. I don’t have a secretary or a marketing staff. I never approach people for positions. They still visit me, however. It’s extraordinary. I never stroked anyone’s ego, and my unwavering stance infuriated many. I have no one to tell me what or how to do anything. Either you persuade me. if I manage to persuade you. When those who have harmed me acknowledge their error, it pleases me.