Tanuja Samarth

Infobox actor
name = Tanuja Samarth


imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1943|9|23
location = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
yearsactive = 1962 - 1975, 2002 - 2003
occupation = Film actress
spouse = Shomu Mukherjee (divorced)
filmfareawards = Best Supporting Actress:
1970 "Paisa Ya Pyaar"

Tanuja Samarth (तनूजा समर्थ), popularly known as "Tanuja" (September 23 1943) is an Indian actress. She is the mother of Kajol and Tanisha.

Biography

Personal life

Tanuja was born in Bombay into a family of four children as Tanuja Samarth to poet Kumarsen Samarth and his wife Shobhna Samarth. Her mother was a famous 1930s and 1940s actress and her father was a poet and film director. When she was very young her parents separated. Tanuja entered films as a child actress and continued working until 1973. She met director Shomu Mukherjee,youngest son of producer Sashadhar Mukherjee on the set of "Ek Baar Muskara Do"(1972). A whirlwind romance ended in a 1973 marriage. They had two children: Kajol Mukherjee (b. 1975) and Tanisha Mukherjee (b. 1978).They were later separated. Shomu Mukherjee died of cardiac arrest on 10th April,2008.

Career

She started her film career with her older sister Nutan in the film "Hamari Beti" (1950) as Baby Tanuja. She debuted as an adult actress in the film "Chhabili" (1960) which was directed by her mother. Her other films included "Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi". Her film career ran through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

After the success of "Haathi Mere Saathi" (1971), she acted in " Mere jeevan Saathi", "Do Chor" and "Ek Baar Muskara Do" (1972). Some of the other films she has acted in are "Pavitra Paapi", "Bhoot Bangla", "Anubhav", "Jeene Ki Raah", etc.

Afterwards, Tanuja retired from films for a number of years, but came back when her marriage ended. She was now offered supporting roles often starring former heroes. Her Pyar Ki Kahani hero Amitabh Bachchan had to call her "bhabhi" (sister-in-law) in Khuddar (1982). She also played a supporting role in Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog (1982).She has recently appeared in such films as "Saathiya" (2002), "Rules" (2003), and "Khakee" (2003) as a supporting actress.

During the mid 60's Tanuja started a parallel career in Bengali movies in Kolkata starting with the film "Deya Neya" (1963) where she was paired opposite the stalwart of Bengali cinema, Uttam Kumar. She followed it up with many other memorable hit films like "Anthony-Firingee" (1967) and "Rajkumari" (1970). Tanuja had fantastic on-screen chemistry with the then superstar Soumitra Chatterjee with whom she made some huge box office hits like" Teen Bhuvaner Parey" (1969), "Prothom Kadam Phool " etc. Tanuja spoke her own lines in these Bengali films.

In 2008, Tanuja starred as a judge along with Kajol and Ajay Devgan as a judge on Zee TV's family dance series Rock and Roll Family.

Awards & nominations

*1967 - Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Jewel Thief
*1969 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for paisa ya pyar

Filmography

As Artiste As Guest Appearance
* Masoom (1983) As Special Appearance
* Khud-daar (1982)
* Bekhudi (1992)

External links

*
* Dinesh Raheja's profile on Tanuja http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/jan/21dinesh.htm