Moushumi Chatterjee 'pities' Amitabh Bachchan, calls him a victim of his image: ‘He is always performing’

Moushumi Chatterjee, in a recent interview, reflects on her collaborations with Amitabh Bachchan, praising his intelligence and grounded nature despite stardom.

Moushumi Chatterjee, who has collaborated with Amitabh Bachchan in films like Manzil, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan and most recently Piku, opened up about her working experience with the Bollywood superstar. Moushumi, in a recent interview, gave her two cents on Amitabh's stardom and how he manages it. (Also read: Moushumi Chatterjee opens up on confronting Rajesh Khanna for his nasty comment on daughter: ‘He thought it was fun’)

Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee in a still from their 1974 film Benaam.

Why Moushumi pities Amitabh Bachchan

In an interview with Filmfare, Moushumi said, "Amitabh Bachchan is a very intelligent man. He always uses politically right words. I sometimes pity him because I think most of the time he is only performing because that is all that he knows. I might be wrong, but that’s how I feel about him. It is because of his image. He has a huge image, which nobody else has managed to achieve.”

Moushumi compares Big B with Rajesh Khanna

Moushumi compared Amitabh with another Bollywood heavyweight, Rajesh Khanna and explained how both of them managed their stardom differently.

Sharing the difference between the two superstars, Moushumi said, "Amitabh has managed to stay grounded despite immense success. Something that Rajesh Khanna failed at. He was blown up with his success. As the saying goes: ‘Ek anpadh gunda aur ek padhe likhe gunde mein bahaut farq hota hai’ (There is always a difference between a literate and illiterate goon). I have never seen Amitabh Bachchan with flatterers. However, Rajesh Khanna was always surrounded by these people. He needed that attention and pampering.”

Moushumi and Amitabh Bachchan's latest projects

Moushumi recently returned to the big screen after a hiatus with the Bengali film Aarii. Written and directed by Jiit Chakraborty, the story explores the sacrifices and emotional bond between a widowed mother and her caregiver son. The film, which also stars Yash Dasgupta and Nusrat Jahan, was released in theatres on 25 April. Her last film with Big B, Piku, was also re-released in theatres on 9 May.

On the other hand, Amitabh was last seen in the Tamil film Vettaiyan and the Telugu film Kalki 2898 AD. He has yet to shoot for the sequel to the sci-fi directed by Nag Ashwin, which will see him reprising his role of Ashwatthama.