The ‘Sen’shine legacy...

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

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

Inborn, inbred and in consequence... inherent can be mama’s ways, particularly in daughters. And sometimes, these inclinations are so deeply entrenched that its unawareness to both the mum and her dolls doesn’t really surprise a distant spectator. Even I couldn’t help smiling at a similar oblivious situation when the yesteryear’s sensuous stunner, Moon Moon Sen recalled, “I had no idea that I will be like my mother and take up movies. Even more surprising was that both my girls, Raima and Riya wanted to be actors too.” Without pausing, she continued in the same breath, “Both of them had the potential but if I had inkling, I would’ve pushed them to learn dancing seriously and take some acting lessons too.”

While Moon Moon Sen, after trying her hands at a few other jobs, might just have incidentally picked up the career as her mother Suchitra Sen’s, her daughters made it a ‘family legacy’ as soon as they learnt that they belonged nowhere else. Like Raima, reasons from her personal experience, “From a very early age, Riya and I were struck with the glamour associated with it all. We always knew we would grow up to be actresses. We loved the lifestyle, the makeup and the studios. We loved to travel and mom would drag us along everywhere. Coming from a family of film actors, it easily influenced us at that impressionable age to join the same line. But when we got into it, we realised that acting was tough business and not always as easy and glamorous as it seems.” But she certainly has no regrets about her decision as she claims, “I am enjoying the perks of this career.”

Suchitra Sen was the pioneer in the family. Despite being cast opposite the Bengali cine legend, Uttam Kumar, in most of her movies, she inspired reverence and cult status in Bengal, entirely resting on her intense acting prowess unveiled in movies such as Saptapadi, Deep Jweley Jai and Aandhi. Daughter Moon Moon Sen followed in her footsteps but denies that it made things any easier for her. “With such family background all one gets is a readymade media platform,” she adds. Even a casual observation fetches stark differences in the image and movie choices of the duo.

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.

The discussion took a turn to the third generation of the Sen family, the nearly-look-alike sisters Raima and Riya Sen, who are quite contrasting, when it comes to their choice of work. While it seems that the former prefers serious roles such as the ones in Daman and Chokher Bali, the latter one seems to be happy modelling and acting in masala movies. Though Raima’s inference of the aspects related to family lineage coincides with that of Moon Moon’s to the extent of “getting our first break easily”, she opines differently about the challenges faced, “The expectations from a celeb-daughter or son especially with our kind of lineage is huge. We are more susceptible to criticism and are easier targets than people who have no film background. So, it was tough initially with the constant comparisons. But with time, as you prove yourself, it gets better.”

Still, the girls are fortunate, for as the mom says, “I don’t think there are any expectations from Raima or Riya. Now that Raima is doing nice and different roles, the expectation from her is that when she’s on screen, there’ll be something to look forward to and that she won’t be giving a sub-performance. There will be something enjoyable.” She adds (to the bliss of her girls), “I don’t think people expect fine performance from them because they are Moon Moon Sen’s daughters. They make their own names, carve their own niches and images.”

Somehow, the film industry’s glamour and stardom isn’t meant to be ephemeral in this family of mothers and daughters, each continuing the legacy, both inspired by and unto the faith and belief of the other. As Raima preens towards the end, “The honour of being associated with the family legacy is a matter of pride not many people can boast of.” Hoping their legacy doesn’t end with the last reel and continues for generations…

B&E edit bureau: Swati Hora with inputs from Gauri Pratap Singh

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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