‘She just looks little’

Tanuja gets talking about granddaughter Nysa, who could well be the fifth glorious chapter of a family tradition

MUMBAI: She belongs to a family that has produced three generations of women actors, an achievement not even the Kapoors can match. “In fact,”  corrects Tanuja, “We are not three generations of women actors (as is believed), but four generations. Even my grandmother (Rattan Bai) was an actor.” The more well known names, of course, are Rattan Bai’s daughter Shobhana Samarth, granddaughters Nutan and Tanuja, followed by Tanuja’s daughter Kajol.

So does Tanuja foresee that Kajol’s daughter Nysa will add another generation to this tradition? “Nysa will do exactly what she wants to do,” she declares. “She is very dear to me. She is my friend,” Tanuja adds. “She just looks little — she has a massive personality. She knows what she wants to do and does it every time. Sometimes, she needs to be stopped and she doesn’t want to listen. But, she is not a stubborn child. Nysa is on her way of learning the family’s values of disciplinary behaviour, integrity and self-respect.”

Ask her if she’s okay with daughter Kajol’s decision to give acting a break and Tanuja says, “I’ve taught her to take decisions and stand by them. If she decides to not act as often as she did, so be it.” Incidentally, Tanuja had played Kajol’s mother in her debut film ‘Bekhudi’. She says, “We didn’t act together after that, though I would love to. But sadly, a script demanding us to be cast together didn’t come my way.”

As for Tanuja herself, she says she is content. “I have been there, done that. I am not looking at a career now. I want my free time,” she smiles. She’s playing a friendly spirit in ‘Babban Bhai vs Bimla Tai’ on 9X. What got her interested? “TV is a medium closer to viewers. I like to make people laugh. Right now, there is staleness on TV, so I think this is going to work.”

p_sapana@dnaindia.net