Former Child Star Raju Shrestha Recalls Painful On-Set Experiences with Moushumi Chatterjee
Raju Shrestha, fondly remembered by cinema lovers as Master Raju, stands as one of Bollywood's most iconic child actors. Throughout his career, he shared screen space with legendary stars including Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jeetendra, and Amitabh Bachchan. However, in a recent candid interview, Shrestha revealed that his most challenging and traumatic professional experiences came while working with veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee.
"The Toughest to Work With": Raju's Candid Assessment
In an exclusive conversation with interviewer Siddharth Kannan, Raju Shrestha did not mince words when asked about difficult co-stars. "If someone asks me who was the toughest to work with, I will say Moushumi Chatterjee," he stated unequivocally. "I never understood her as an actress in the first place. She never worked on her diction and delivered her lines with a Bengali accent. I never liked her."
The 1975 Incident: Physical Pain on the Sets of 'Do Jhooth'
Shrestha revisited his first collaboration with Chatterjee in the 1975 film 'Do Jhooth', which also starred Vinod Mehra. At just nine years old, Raju found himself in a particularly distressing situation during an emotional scene. "There was a scene where she was dropping me off at boarding school and I was supposed to cry in protest," he recalled.
The young actor had prepared glycerine for the emotional moment, but Chatterjee took matters into her own hands. "She assumed I wouldn't cry and started pinching me. I was very young. She had long nails, and it hurt badly," Shrestha described. "I was ready with glycerine, but when she pinched me, I began crying for real. I was professional enough not to miss my dialogues, but once the scene was cut, I cried even more."
The aftermath saw Shrestha showing his mother the physical marks left by Chatterjee's nails. When his mother complained to the director, Chatterjee reportedly defended her actions by saying, "I thought he wouldn't cry. To avoid a retake, I pinched him."
History Repeats in 1978 During 'Tumhari Kasam'
The distressing pattern continued three years later during the making of 'Tumhari Kasam', featuring Jeetendra and Moushumi Chatterjee in lead roles. Shrestha described another painful incident: "There was a scene where she had to drag me home while beating me and then throw me onto a bed without a mattress."
Mindful of his safety, the child actor had requested gentle treatment. "I requested her to push me gently and said I would manage the fall myself. She agreed, but then she hit me for real and threw me hard," he revealed. "I was badly hurt. My bones ached, and I cried a lot. I even asked her, 'Aunty, what's wrong with you?' She just smiled and walked away."
Lasting Emotional Trauma and Professional Impact
The repeated negative experiences left deep psychological scars on the young performer. "I was traumatised," Shrestha admitted. "Every time I was told we had a film with Moushumi, I would feel scared. I had my worst experiences with her."
These revelations provide a rare glimpse into the less glamorous aspects of child acting during Bollywood's golden era. Despite working with numerous industry giants, it was Chatterjee's behavior that created lasting negative memories for Shrestha, highlighting the importance of proper on-set conduct and child welfare in film production.
