Moushumi Chatterjee: “You can have a boyfriend, but you don’t have to…”: Moushumi Chatterjee’s advice to her daughter reflects how times have changed

Veteran actor Moushumi Chatterjee has offered a candid perspective on relationships, marriage and the expectations placed on women, drawing from her own experience of entering marriage and motherhood at a very young age. Speaking with Nayandeep Rakshit at the Jagran Film Festival 2026, the actor said she has encouraged her daughter Megha Mukherjee to make her own choices rather than believing that every relationship must end in marriage. Her comments come decades after Moushumi herself became a wife and mother as a teenager.

From a teenage bride to a mother of two

Moushumi Chatterjee began her acting journey with the Bengali film Balika Badhu in 1967 and went on to become one of the prominent actors of Hindi and Bengali cinema. Her personal life, however, followed a very different timeline from that of many young women today. She married Jayanta Mukherjee, son of legendary singer and composer Hemant Kumar, at a young age. She became a mother to her elder daughter Payal when she was still a teenager and later welcomed her younger daughter Megha. Looking back at how dramatically expectations around relationships have changed, Moushumi now appears to favour giving the younger generation more room to make their own choices. “I tell my daughter, ‘You can have a boyfriend, but you don’t have to marry that person,'” she said during her conversation at the film festival. Her advice reflects a simple distinction that is increasingly relevant to modern relationships: being in love with someone does not necessarily mean that marriage has to follow immediately, or at all.

“Be a little selfish and self-centered”

Moushumi’s message was not limited to relationships. She also urged women to think about their own needs instead of constantly living according to expectations set by others. “You girls, be careful today. Be a little selfish and self-centered because the times have changed now. It’s written in Gita as well, ‘Parivartan sansaar ka niyam hai [Change is the only constant]’,” she said. She went on to question the unequal expectations traditionally placed on daughters and sons within families.“Change has happened now, and we have come forward as compared to older times. We teach our daughters to take care of their in-laws’ house, but we don’t teach our sons. We think that the woman has to do chores; it’s not a man’s job. Today, the younger generation is so stressed. They aren’t able to enjoy their life. They don’t have time for themselves.” Her comments point to a larger change in the way marriage and family responsibilities are being viewed. Instead of preparing only women to adjust after marriage, she argued that household responsibilities should not automatically be treated as a woman’s duty.

A deeply personal perspective on mistakes and life

Moushumi also spoke about the importance of learning from one’s mistakes rather than allowing other people’s expectations to dictate one’s choices. “Don’t do anything to prove to others. I have turned 70 now. Do what you like, but don’t go overboard. If you make a mistake once, don’t repeat it. I have also made mistakes in my life. But once I knew it was not done, I never repeated it. We are human beings; we have a conscience, but we don’t analyse it,” she said. Her comments carry added emotional weight when viewed against the difficult experiences her family has faced. Moushumi’s elder daughter Payal died in December 2019 at the age of 45 after battling type 1 diabetes. She had been in a coma for about two years before her death.Payal’s prolonged illness had also led Moushumi and her husband to approach the Bombay High Court in 2018 over guardianship as her health deteriorated. Against this backdrop, Moushumi’s latest advice to her daughter is not simply about dating or marriage. It reflects a broader belief that young women should be allowed to make decisions about their own lives, learn from their experiences and avoid living solely to satisfy society. Her words may sound simple, but they underline a significant shift from the expectations many women of her generation grew up with: a relationship does not have to become a marriage, and choosing oneself does not necessarily mean choosing against family.