Moon Moon Sen
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 2014–2019
Preceded by	Basudeb Acharia
Succeeded by	Subhash Sarkar
Constituency	Bankura,West Bengal
Personal details
Born	Srimati Sen[1] (1954-03-28)28 March 1954 (age 70)[2] Calcutta,West Bengal, India (present-day Kolkata)
Spouse	Bharat Dev Varma ​ ​ (m. 1978; died 2024)​ [3]
Children	Raima Sen Riya Sen
Parent(s)	Dibanath Sen Suchitra Sen
Residence(s)	Kolkata,West Bengal,India
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford Jadavpur University
Profession	Actress

Moon Moon Sen, also credited asMoonmoon Sen (bornSrimati Sen; 28 March 1954),^[1] is an Indian actress, known for her works inHindi,Bengali,Malayalam,Kannada,Telugu,Tamil, andMarathi films. She eventually starred inBollywood films. She has appeared in 60 films and 40 television series. She has receivedAndhra Pradesh stateNandi Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1987, for her role in the filmSirivennela.

Moon Moon Sen was born in Calcutta (present-dayKolkata) to Bengali actressSuchitra Sen and Dibanath Sen. Her father, ofBallygunge Place, was the son of one of the wealthiest businessmen ofKolkata, Adinath Sen. Her great-grandfather Dinanath Sen was theDiwan or a Minister of the Maharaja ofTripura.

She was educated at Loreto Convent,Shillong and at Loreto House,Calcutta. She completed her graduation fromSomerville College, Oxford and received her master's degree inComparative Literature fromJadavpur University,Calcutta.^[4][5]

As a child, Sen learnt drawing fromJamini Roy, one of India's greatest artists.^[6] She loves paintings and collecting antiques. In an interview in 2000, she said she taught at Ballygunge Govt High School for a year^[7] and then taught graphics at Chitrabani, a school teaching film techniques. She was also active insocial work and even thought about adopting a baby, even before she was married.^[5] Sen taught English at a well known Boys' school (Ballygunge Govt. High School) inKolkata before joining films.

Moon Moon Sen started her career in films and television after marriage and motherhood. She made her debut inAndar Baahar (1984).^[8] Her daring role in that film apparently created a storm of controversy.

She had also starred in a suspense thriller100 Days withMadhuri Dixit. AfterZakhmi Dil (1994) she did not appear in films until 2003 when she starred in an unsuccessful thrillerKucch To Hai. She'd acted in a Telugu movieSirivennela directed by the legendary Telugu directorK. Viswanath.

Before and after entering the film industry, she appeared alone (or with her daughters) in some modelling assignments. She notably modelled for soap ads^[9] which were quite controversial in the 1980s. Apart from doing some television serials, she also did a couple of Bengali tele-films.

Sen said she would bare all even at 70.

"Age is not important, the attitude is. Sophia is the ultimate glam girl who can manage to look beautiful in such a picture even now. But yes, India too has beautiful women like Rekha and Hema Malini who can carry such a thing out with aplomb. In fact, I wouldn't mind myself if the shoot is done aesthetically and with taste."^[10]

Her filmMy Karma (2004),^{[citation needed]} directed by Korak Day^{[citation needed]} received international awards and recognition for her as a "tough and sweet Indian wife, standing as a rock behind her husband".^{[citation needed]}

She is now doing a few films at a time.[1] She is also apparently writing acookbook in Bengali.^{[citation needed]}

She joinedTrinamool Congress in March 2014^[11] and won in2014 Lok Sabha Polls fromBankura constituency, where she defeated CPI(M)'s nine-time MP,Basudeb Acharia.^[12][13] In 2019, she lost the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency election toBabul Supriyo of BJP.^[14]

In 2015, Moon Moon Sen in an interview said 'I think we should give him (Modi) a chance. He has done a very good job winning all those votes and we have to give him a chance as a Prime Minister.' Though her party distanced itself from the statement and said that it is her own view and is certainly not the view of the party.^[15]

Moon Moon Sen married in 1978 to Bharat Dev Varma, a descendant of the erstwhile royal family ofTripura. They have two daughters,Raima andRiya, who also pursued a career in acting. She has stated that her husband was an immense support for her acting career.^[7]

Her late mother-in-law, Ila Devi, was the daughter ofIndira Raje, the princess of Cooch Behar, and the elder sister ofGayatri Devi, the Maharani ofJaipur.

Deeply religious, in spite of her bohemian screen image, Moon Moon Sen is committed to family life and grieved at her motherSuchitra Sen's passing away on 17 January 2014 due to a heart attack. She immersed the ashes of her mother ritualistically in the Ganges on Wednesday, 29 January 2014. The prayers was attended by dignitaries, like West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee and close friends and family who had missed the funeral, a hurried affair after five hours of death as per the last wishes of the dying actress.^[16]

• Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress –Sirivennela (1987)
• Kalakendra Screen Award^{[citation needed]}
• Bharat Nirman Award^{[citation needed]}
• Kalakar Awards.^[17]

• Zaban Sambhal Ke- episodic role
• Paliyathachan - Malayalam serial
• Rishtey - Hindi Serial
• Shudhu Tomari Jonyo - Bengali serial

• Shoma A. Chatterjee."Moon Moon Sen: Back in the Spotlight", Screen (part ofThe Indian Express group), 24 November 2000. An article based on an interview with Moon Moon Sen, discussing her career and her private life.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMoon Moon Sen.

• Moon Moon Sen atIMDb
• Moon Moon Sen atBollywood Hungama

• 1948 births
• Politicians from Kolkata
• Indian film actresses
• Actresses in Bengali cinema
• Actresses in Hindi cinema
• Actresses in Kannada cinema
• Actresses in Telugu cinema
• Actresses in Tamil cinema
• Living people
• Loreto College, Kolkata alumni
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Jadavpur University alumni
• Kalakar Awards winners
• India MPs 2014–2019
• Indian actor-politicians
• Lok Sabha members from West Bengal
• People from Bankura district
• Women in West Bengal politics
• Actresses from Kolkata
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• 21st-century Indian women politicians
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Actresses in Malayalam television
• Actresses in Hindi television
• Bengali television actresses
• Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal
• Women members of the Lok Sabha
• Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from February 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• EngvarB from August 2014
• Use dmy dates from January 2023
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2014
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Bollywood Hungama person template using non-numeric ID