Moushumi Chatterjee was replaced from Gulzar’s film because she refused to ‘compromise with my dignity’; recalls slapping actors who misbehaved with her

You look half your age.

Thank you! It is the way one thinks and lives. I don’t indulge in any vices. I don’t bitch about others. I am very happy in my world. I sleep with a clear conscience. I think that is the secret of what you call my ever-young looks.

Are you saying you have no worries, no sorrows?

Dekhiye dukh toh zindagi ka hissa hota hai. Sabko hota hai. Mujhe bhi hai. (See, sorrow is a part of life. Everyone has it. I do too). The trick is to overcome the adversities of life. I trick the tears with my laughter. Also, you know what they say, laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. Main bhi roti hoon lekin akele mein (I cry but only when I am alone).

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How are you celebrating your birthday this year?

I am in Kolkata. I have a Bengali film for release. It is called Aarii. It’s my first Bengali film since Aparna Sen’s Goynar Baksho twelve years ago. If you remember I started my career in acting in Bengali in Balika Badhu when I was just a child.

So quite a homecoming?

Yes, I am happy with Aarii. I liked my role of a newly widowed woman who bonds with her son. I am the central character. To get a role such as this at my age is not easy .

Which are the films you consider to be important to your career?

I can’t remember them all. There were so many. I must have done hundreds. But yes, Balika Badhu my first film. Then my Hindi debut in Anurag. I played a blind girl. Tumhari Kasam where I again played a blind girl. Basu Chatterjee’s Manzil with Amitabh was fun. Many years later I did Piku with him. I enjoyed that also. I also liked Pyasa Saawan, Udhar Ki Zindagi and Aa Ab Laut Chale.

You were Gulzar saab’s leading lady in Koshish but were replaced overnight.

That’s because I would never compromise with my dignity, no matter what. All that is in the past. Gulzar and I made up and did Angoor many years later. Coincidentally, Haribhai (Sanjeev Kumar) was my hero in Koshish, and also in Angoor. I lost a lot of roles as I wouldn’t pander to anyone’s ego.

You were known to slap actors who misbehaved?

They deserved it, they were sexist but I don’t blame them for this. You have to see both sides of the coin. The heroes used to flirt with the heroines, and they expected the heroines to reciprocate. That is the only way they knew. They didn’t know any other way. Men are brought up with mothers pampering them, wives pampering them, sisters pampering them .

How do you rate yourself as a wife, mother and actress?

I have given 25 percent of myself as a wife, 25 percent as a mother, 25 percent as an actress and 25 percent to myself, that belongs to no one else. So that’s a hundred percent, right? God’s grace is great. I am who I am. My conscience is clear when I sleep.