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The Mukherjee-Samarth family is a Bengali-Marathi family that has been involved in the Indian Bollywood film industry since the 1930s, Shobhana Samarth having first acted in a film in 1935. The Mukherjee family was connected to the Samarth family by Tanuja's marriage to Shomu Mukherjee in 1973.

Contents 1 The Mukherjees 2 The Samarths 2.1 Kajol 2.2 Rani Mukerji 2.3 Sharbani Mukherjee 2.4 Tanisha 3 Mukherjee family tree 4 Samarth family tree

[edit] The Mukherjees

The Mukherjee family are a Bengali Brahmins family that was said to be headed by Sashadhar Mukherjee, described as the founder of Filmistan studios. [1]. His five sons,Rono Mukherjee,Joy Mukherjee, Deb Mukherjee, Shomu Mukherjee,Shubir Mukherjee followed him into the industry. Joy and Deb were actors; Shomu became a director and producer, Shubir also a producer

Sashadhar Mukherjee, had a younger brother called Subodh Mukherjee who was a director. He died on 21 May 2005[2]. He is survived by his wife (Kamala), two sons (Subhash and Sanjay) and a daughter Gitanjali. [3]

Sashadhar had an older brother Ravindramohan Mukherjee, whose son Ram Mukherjee, is the father of the contemporary actress Rani Mukerji. Ram is a film director and was one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios.

Sashadhar Mukherjee was married to Ashok Kumar’s sister Satirani Ganguly.

Filmalaya Studios is currently owned by Shomu Mukherjee (Kajol's father), Ram Mukherjee (Rani's father), Rono Mukherjee (Sharbani's father), Shubir Mukherjee (Shivira's father).

[edit] The Samarths

The Samarth family is a Marathi CKP (Chandraseniya Kayashta Prabhu) family. Their legacy in films began with Rattan Bai, a popular actress of the 1940s. Her daughter Shobhna Samarth (1915-9 February 2000), was an actress and acted in films such as Love in Simla (1960), which also featured Joy Mukherjee. Shobna's cousin, Nalini Jaywant, was also an actress.

Shobna's daughters Tanuja and Nutan carried on the family tradition. Tanuja was a moderate success, but it was Nutan (June 4, 1936 - February, 1991) who became a huge star. She holds the record for the most Filmfare awards won for Best Actress.

Tanuja and Nutan's children have also entered the film industry; they are the fourth generation of Samarths to do so. Nutan's son Mohnish Behl is an actor; Tanuja's daughters Kajol and Tanisha are actresses.[4]

[edit] Kajol

Kajol is one of the most popular Bollywood actress. She has won four Filmfare awards for Best Actress and one Filmfare South award for Best Actress. She was also the first woman to win the Filmfare best villain award. Her films with Shahrukh Khan have been huge hits.

Kajol is married to actor Ajay Devgan; the couple has a daughter, Nysa. For a few years, she concentrated on her marriage and motherhood, sidelining films. Her come back film Fanaa with Aamir Khan was hugely successful.

[edit] Rani Mukerji

Rani Mukerji is considered as one of the most popular actresses in the industry today. Rani Mukerji is a second cousin to Kajol. Rani's mother was a playback singer [5]. She has also worked with her cousin Kajol in the 1998 hit Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Rani has been nominated for and won various awards..

Her brother Raja Mukherjee is a producer but is now working on his first directorial project. Raja became a father when wife Jyoti gave birth to a baby girl called Mishti. [6].

An interview with Simi Garewal confirmed that Kajol's and Rani's grandfathers (Ravidramohan Mukherjee) were brothers, so the two actresses are in fact second cousins. However, the two actresses are said to be not very close on personal levels but they share immense respect for each other.

[edit] Sharbani Mukherjee

Aspiring actress Sharbani Mukherjee is said to be the daughter of Rono Mukherjee. An interview with Rani Mukerji revealed that Sharbani is six years elder than Kajol. [7]

[edit] Tanisha

Kajol's younger sister Tanisha who is also a bollywood actress has acted in movies like Neal N Nikki (2005) and Sarkar (film) (2005).She has acted in Tamil Movies too

[edit] Mukherjee family tree

 Ravindramohan Mukherjee---------------------------------------Sashadhar Mukherjee----------------------------------------------------------------------------Subodh Mukherjee---Prabodh Mukherjee   

=Snehalata =Sati Rani---Ashok Kumar Ganguly = Kamala Mukherjee =Parul Mukherjee

                  |                                                                                                                                            |                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |                                          | 

---

+--------------------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+------------+

   Lalit Mukherjee    Shyam Mukherjee     Ram Mukherjee                                                       |                                |                                |                                      |                              |                         |                                                                                      =Monica Banerjee                                       = Krishna Rai                                     Rono Mukherjee   Joy Mukherjee     Deb Mukherjee  Shomu Mukherjee        Shibani            Subir                                       Subhash                                        Tapan                                                                |                                                                                |              =Samita Mukherjee    =Neelam Sodhi     =Amrit               = Tanuja               =Deb Maullik                                                            Gitanjajali                                      Basu              Surjoe                                                       Raja Mukherjee--Rani Mukerji                        |                                      |                           |                                 |                                                                                                          Sanjay        Gauri                                                         = Jyoti Mukherjee                                                  |                                      |                           |                                 |                                                                                                                                                 Bina                                                                         |                                                            Samrat-                       Monjoy             Ayan               Kajol--Tanisha                                                Shakti                                                        Myesha Mukherjee                                      Sarbani                         Sujoy                                              =Ajay Devgan                             Satyajit                                                                                                                                 Siddharth                                                                                                |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Nysa Devgan 

[edit] Samarth family tree

                                 Rattan Bai = P S Shilotri                                                |                                    Shobhna Samarth = Kumarsen Samarth                                                        |      +-----------------+--------------------------+----------------------------+      |                 |                          |                            | Jaideep       Nutan = Rajnish Behl   Charuta(artist)               Tanuja = Shomu Mukherjee                           |                                                       |                      Mohnish Behl = Ektaa Behl                 +----------------+-------------+                                 |                            |                              |                              Pranutan Behl                  Kajol = Ajay Devgan        Tanisha                                                                    |                                                                   Nysa Devgan