Moon Moon Sen: Will use my 'glamour' against political rivals

Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha candidate for Bankura constituency Moon Moon Sen spoke candidly to Subhro Niyogi discussing a whole range of issues revolving around her recent foray into politics. In great spirits after a night out with girlfriends celebrating 'Women's Day', the only irritant seemed to be the unsolicited advices that she had been receiving from all and sundry. "I went out in a skirt and blouse yesterday.Everyone's being so protective. Someone came and said I shouldn't dress like this, that I should go to Agnimitra Paul and she would dress me in her saris. Another worried about the cut of my blouse. Why is everyone advising me? Why don't they join Trinamool Congress instead?" she remarked sarcastically before settling down to the business of a serious interview. Here's the uncut version:
Moon Moon Sen meant the glamorous fun-loving person; someone who loves to do ‘nyakami’ but is intelligent; has a great sense of humour and doesn’t mind laughing at herself. That’s quite the anti-thesis of an average politician lacking in glamour or humour. Your take ...
I don’t know why people are going about the ‘glamour’ factor. It shouldn’t be an unknown factor in politics because we have an Italian who is like a PM and former actress Jayalalithaa as CM with quite a personality and a unique wardrobe. But if I were to bring glamour to the table in Bengal, so be it. Let’s use it. I am going to find out exactly what is glamorous to people's eyes (it can’t be a pair of sunglasses) and am going to be exploited and be glamorous, especially against a 75-year-old man (her opponent, sitting MP Basudeb Acharya of CPM).
As for me the person, my husband has kept be grounded ever since I joined films. I came back from a scene once and said, ‘Today I have done a great job!’ And everyone clapped for me and I felt very happy. I remember Dev saying very shyly, 'You just go there, say your lines, wriggle your little bottom and come back Mini. Don’t get carried away. Remember who you are and that you don’t know anything. Capitalize on what you are good at and leave it at that.’ I think that holds true even today. And yes, I love to laugh and I don’t like boring people who take themselves so seriously.
How did you become a candidate?
It happened very casually while talking to Mamata. She dropped by to find out how I was coping with the bereavement. We talked about a lot of things including my mother. She then enquired about our step-brother Jishnu Deb Burman and whether he is serious or not about joining or not joining the party. I laughingly said she should consider my husband, or rather me because his health will not permit, to accompany her in the campaign trips to Assam and Tripura. Mamata said she had thought of me but hadn’t broached the topic because I was in mourning. I told her, ‘If it makes you happy, think about it.’ I didn’t say it seriously and she didn’t take it either but something arose from that because the next thing was an announcement on television. I think the idea has been lurking somewhere in our minds..
And what do you think of her choice of Moon Moon Sen as a politician?
I think she has picked someone very well because with my experience in doing jatra and films and outdoor shooting where I had to cope with the dirtiest of bathrooms and unruly crowds, I think for the superficial reasons, she has picked quite well. After that, it is up to everyone, not just me.
How did the family react to the news?
Oh, my husband was delighted. He will anyway have to help me with all this and be my guide. Raima and Riya have always been telling, ‘Ma you are sitting in the house, why don’t you do something?’ They can’t bear to see me sitting idle. I have always worked and they are working. And they have tried to get me into little roles in their films. They are absolutely thrilled about this new role that I have bagged. They are laughing and giggling away. Of course, they don’t know what is going to hit them when they take the five-hour drive to Bankura. But they are all excited about the trip.
Suchitra Sen turned into a recluse after quitting films. How do you think she would have reacted to her daughter courting politics?
Ma did not want me to get into films either until she realized I was quite capable of taking care of myself. She was worried as a mother. When she heard I was doing jatra, she was terrified about me traveling alone with the driver at night. (I preferred to travel at night and sleep during the day and be ready for the jatra in the evening). This really upset her. It was the nature of the work, the hardships, the risks involved. I think she would faint if she were alive, not because of me joining politics but out of her concern for her daughter.
Is this by far the greatest role that you have got?
I think there will be more after this. There are other things to do. This will be for as long as it lasts. I believe in fate. There is a great role of grandmother waiting for me. I have to do that role justice. I think that will be the greatest role.
What next? How are you preparing for a rather tough campaign in hostile weather conditions against a formidable opponent?
So I have come into the fray and if I say, I have come in to do my best and I am really excited I am going to learn and I am going to do what everyone tells me, it’s not that I am being flippant. It is the way I would approach a new author. I would read up on the books he has read, read up on his life, I would wonder why he was writing on these particular subjects… I have to keep my humour about.
There are party people chalking out plans for everybody. Sandhya Roy, Dev and I are not politicians. We are going to learn and enter the fray. We need guidance. I can’t go to Bankura and tell party workers what to do. I have to fall in line with them, familiarize myself and meet the people.
As for the heat, I don’t think it will be that difficult. Don’t we die in heat every summer and sweat like pigs? During shoots, the clothes become wet. I have to dry the wig at lunch hours and take a bath in the terrible showers that have finally been replaced thanks to Mamata.
Basudeb babu (Basudeb Acharya), my opponent has been there for years. He must have done some good to get elected so many times. I wish him good luck. I can be sincere and reach out to the people and say what my party wants to do in Bankura and not what Basudeb babu did not do.
There is tremendous thrill and excitement. I have already talked to several local leaders and they are delighted and want me to come. I, too, can’t wait to go but I think it will be a fortnight before the campaign begins.
The heat factor is a harsh reality. How do you conquer it? Special diet and apparel lined up for the campaign?
I am really irritated with people giving me all kinds of advice. And it is those who are not in politics who have the most to say. It is the same heat that envelops the whole of India. I have not come from Alaska to foray into Indian politics. I think I will be sensible, start early in the morning, avoid the afternoons and be out again in the evening. Papia Adhikari recently approached me and said she had a role of a Black American in mind but I would have to take a lot of makeup to fit the character. I told her to wait a couple of months for by the time the campaign finishes, my skin would have acquired the kind of tone that would be perfect for the role.
I did a movie with Tapan Sinha—‘Boidurjya Rahasya’—in Bihar in summer. When I returned, the skin would just peel off. So I went to Shahnaz Hussain and they did cream and massage; and cream and massage; and in three days I was back to normal.
I am not preparing beauty packs for the campaign. Everyone is worried about my skin but I feel if I eat right and sleep right, that will get me through. I will take bottled ghee from home. I should find rock salt and potatoes to have rice and mashed potato. As I travel through the countryside, there will be fresh vegetables. I am not a great fish or meat eater. I may take a little juice maker. I just have to sleep well and that is the worry. But excitement should take me through.
As for dress, there have again been all kinds of advice doled out. I will be in comfortable saris—mostly tangail and chiffon. I would love to wear chiffon in the evenings when there are big meetings. The people also want to see someone dressed nicely. My chiffons are light, they are practical. I am so happy because I have the hugest collection of tangails. I love weaves. I just have to pack them. There’s no need to buy. (She is gleeful at the thought)
How will you campaign in Bankura?
I think it will be like the kind of campaigning I did for Rachpal (Singh) and one or two people in other states, including my cousin in Agartala. It will be more about traveling in SUVs because of the distance and Bankura is a large constituency. There will be stops where I will interact with groups of people. I want to especially go to the Jangalmahal area. There will be speeches by the party leaders and also by me. I want to talk to the people. If I don’t open my mouth, I will be an ornamental doll.
Now that you are in politics, soft barbs will be replaced by nasty punches. How will you cope?
That is a real cause for worry because I am very bad with handling criticism and I don’t like nastiness. But then I don’t think politics is nasty like the world of cinema. They can take a photograph of you, change it around and really malign you. They can take a remark' twist it and create a terrible gossip. No one has been immune' from my mother to Riya. But there is also something called courtesy. When I first learnt about my opponent' I told people to convey my regards to him. I also learnt that Basudeb babu has remarked that this is a political battle' not a personal one. I think he must be my mother’s fan. If it could carry on like that' it would be so nice.
Just say if I were to win' one of the first things to do after telling Mamata the result would be to go to him and say' ‘Basudev da' I hope you are going to help me and give me a couple of tips. That’s how the world should function. We have lost that nobility. Someone strips off the shirt in the assembly. No wonder the youth don’t want to stay in the country because of the governance or lack of it.
One of the most horrible things I have heard is that it gets real nasty after the win (she makes a grimace). One is forced to change by the muck that is thrown. Apparently there is going to be a lot of muck thrown at me by disgruntled people. It will be a test of fire. I hope I emerge with dignity and remain the person I am.
My mashi shashuri (aunt-in-law) Gayatri Devi was formally correct. Though she had given up politics by the time I married into the family' I learned a lot from her. It is one’s manners that make a person. When working with 200-300 people a day one cannot dismiss someone simply because he or she is crude or belligerent. One just has to break through that and start relating to them as a person. It is not that I have to come down from my pedestal and have to be at the same level' for then I would destroy my soul. Everyone has something nice in them. We have to find that and then relate to it.
What do you consider your biggest asset as a politician? What can people of Bankura expect from Moon Moon Sen?
My smile! (She laughs) It would be my ability to talk directly from the heart. And the fact that I can openly say I don’t know this' I will learn it. There has to be some humility; you can’t go in like superhuman. I am not Angelina Jolie out to solve the problems of the world.
I also don’t want them to think that yet another film-star came' asked for vote' won and flew away. If I were to win' I would like to have a place of my own there. That establishes roots. I would like to go back frequently' if health permits and if my daughters are good girls (she winks and says: 'you would know if you had two grown up daughters')' I will go back at least once or twice a month. I also want to find a place in Kolkata where people from Bankura can come and speak to me. I am really upset that they have the impression that film-stars are flippant. But honestly' there are other people' too' who win and don’t look back.
Your favourite politician apart from Mamata Banerjee?
I love Indira Gandhi. Not because my mother played her character in ‘Andhi’ (That story was actually written with Gayatri Devi' Moon Moon’s husband’s aunt in mind). I admire Indira because the world she lived in was very tough. She had to stride it like a man and she did do it like a man. Considering she had grandchildren in the house and her sons whom she just adored and she was a woman and a mother' she took a very tough stance. There were times when we were really upset with her during emergency. But when you have to run such a vast country like India' you have to be tough.I like Clinton. Bill Clinton. Hillary does not have the charisma that her husband has but she probably will be a better President. And' of course' John F Kennedy. Doesn’t everyone of the generation love him? (She winks and smiles disarmingly).