Tanuja with her elder daughter Kajol (left) and younger daughter Tanishaa (right) at actress Esha Deol's wedding reception in 2012. / Wikipedia Commons/ Bollywood Hungama

Tanuja debuted long before Chhabili, the film that gave her the naughty, effervescent. Actress tag which she carried like a chip on her shoulder for the rest of her career.
 

When she was 5 years old, her mother Shobhana Samarth told her to play young Nutan in their home production, Hamari Beti the film which marked her elder sister Nutan’s debut into Bollywood. Just the thought that she would be missing school, made her jump onto the bandwagon; little did she know that she would have to obey the director, do things as told and would not be allowed to prance around the sets as she wished. 

What more? She didn’t like the sound of her voice even with loads of cajoling and sweet treats tucked into her, she finally did her bit. But she realized one thing then it wasn’t her favorite thing to do. She knew how to do it, and did it well but she would still much rather learn new languages, study more and have the time of her life.

Right after her board exams, when she returned home a teen, ready to have some fun during her holidays she was left aghast at their crumbling finances. Nutan was already married to Rajnish Bahl and it would have been unfair to ask her to help. Tanuja’s two other siblings were too small to chip in, any way. The onus to help her family fell squarely on her tender teen shoulders and she carried it. Without complaint and with a smile on her face.

“I might have started off, due to poor finances, but that didn’t mean I did my job like a chore. I gave it my best! Of course, I had seen my mother and sister up close and did learn from the best, but I didn’t really have any training as most of us actors then, so I would see my films and tell myself I could have done this part differently. So the next time around I got a chance, I changed that about my performance,” Tanuja had said, speaking about how she took on roles when she was so unprepared for the task. 

She was far too impressed by her sister, who made acting more realistic, and emoted beautifully with her eyes. Tanuja felt her mother was too theatrical for the changing times.

From her first film, itself, it was evident she was neither like her mom, nor like her sister. She was her own person. She did lighthearted roles and almost got boxed into that with films like Mem-Didi, Bhoot Bangla etc but she was quick to realize it and switched to a film like Anubhav, Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi and of course, Jewel Thief for which she received the Filmfare Award.

For someone who never wanted to be an actor, she lasted a good 15 years doing mainstream cinema with panache, it was during the making of Ek Baar Muskura Do (directed by Ram Mukherjee, featuring Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee) she met and fell in love with Shomu Mukherjee. The two got married and had two daughters- Kajol and Tanishaa. 

The marriage was not meant to last, and the actress found herself under the arc lights pretty soon. Unfortunately, the few years she was away, the times had already changed. She was merely in her 30s but suddenly, she had to play “bhabhi’ to the co-stars she was once romancing. She was soon pushed to play the mother’s roles to actresses who were just 5-7 years younger than her. But she took it all in her stride, because acting was always a means of livelihood for her and nothing more. 

Speaking about it she said, “I believe when I returned to cinema, I was a much more mature woman. I didn’t return the same person, so I was ready to do different kinds of roles. The only time it hit me, was when I had to paint my hair white. Today, mothers don’t have to look like they are 80 all the time, women are accepted as a mother and still have a certain style on screen. 
However, those times were different. I was 30 something and played Shabana Azmi’s mother in Nasihat. Just a few years ago we were paired opposite the same hero." She laughed at the contrived way filmmakers took to cinema but didn’t think she had it in her to fight to break that glass ceiling.

I really didn’t care how I looked in front of the camera, I wasn’t bothered with the clothes they gave me either. I always got along with everyone, I don’t remember ever having crossed words with anyone or having any kind of misunderstanding. I was into linguistic study so I spoke French, German, did movies in varied languages, those were my guilty pleasures if you may call them so, for me I was content and that was more than I could have asked for. 

“There are no regrets, no thoughts of remorse, just the knowledge that I did my best,” she shrugged as she signed off. With both her daughters doing their own thing in life, she doesn’t have much in the way of responsibility perhaps that’s the reason for her glow even today.

At 81 now, and you often see her in the Durga Pooja mandaps, her annual public appearance. Where you might find her schooling her daughters when they get into an argument even today. She doesn’t care that one of them is a superstar and the other a public figure too-she shushes them like any mother would. She dotes on her grandchildren, enjoys spending time with them. So much so that when she turned 70 she decided to give up smoking and drinking because she wanted to be fit and healthy for them. That’s Tanuja for you, no pretense, needed, speaking the bitter truth always. It is like it is with her.