Tuesday, November 06, 2012

A thespian grandmom

A thespian grandmom, a sultry mom, and two star daughters…

Having been part of two different eras, Moon Moon sees no influence of her mom’s work in her own. “My mother stopped acting about 15 years before I stepped into films. If you look at the history of cinema, you will see that each decade is different in terms of writing, story, direction etc. I could never have done the kind of role my mother did because I was never offered such roles. What came my way was very different and I had to measure up to the kind of work I got.” The challenge, as she says, was never about comparison or expectation. “In fact, the biggest challenge faced by actors of any era is that of competition from fellow actors.”

On whether it is difficult for a star child to deal with people’s expectations, Moon Moon interestingly pointed out, “One has to understand that people don’t really have any expectations. It’s more about meeting your own expectations. Eventually how one performs matters.” In her film career of 60 movies and 40 tele-serials in Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and even Marathi, Moon Moon Sen dared roles that were tabooed in the Indian film industry then. “They just wait to see what you are going to be like,” says Moon Moon with a conviction that appears to be her source of motivation too.

During the conversation, her well paced discourse in a husky yet clear voice was constantly reminding me of an elitist secondary school language teacher. The similarity between them was an effortless wider-than-usual stretching of lips for clarity in pronunciation. What led to such a thought could probably be my knowledge of her being an English teacher at one time or her constant words of encouragement for all star kids who somewhere along the line are trying to overcome the shadows of their predecessors. “Like today, no one really expects Ranbir to be like his father or mother. For Abhishek Bachchan, the challenge is nothing to do with him being Amitabh Bachchan’s son. Nobody expects another Amitabh Bachchan; they wish to see what Abhishek Bacchan is all about,” she explains. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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