There’s something unfiltered and oddly revealing about what a celebrity carries in their bag. And when Mouni Roy opened up her purse to Pinkvilla, we got a glimpse into her life.
What followed was a delightful exploration of her ‘Mary Poppins’ bag. “I move around with my entire house,” she says. True enough, the actress carries everything from eyebrow tints to emotional talismans, with items ranging from the stylish to the sentimental.
First up? The basics: “We all have a wallet,” she says. “I always have my books with me wherever I go,” Mouni said, quickly adding that her books are often outside her bag—“because the fat ones are really difficult to put in your purse. Right now, I’m binge-ing, so I’m reading The Spy.” Books are clearly non-negotiable.
Then comes her self-care essentials. “I have my everyday makeup with me… a sponge, a lip balm, this is very important, a lip tint… even if you have no makeup, dark eyebrows and a bit of tint on your cheeks and lips, and you’re set.”
Mouni also keeps a compact, kajal, liner, and a blusher brush, though she laments losing her favourite tiny one. And if you’ve ever wondered how she maintains those immaculate tresses post-shoot, she’s prepared: “A detangler… I’m going to detangle my hair after this interview.”
But nothing beats her impromptu hand fan moment: “Brace yourself, this is fancy!” she says, pulling out a manual fan. Why? Because “it is really hot in Film City or anywhere outdoor when we shoot in Mumbai.”
“I have these charms that I keep with myself always… I found this three to four years ago on a beach… must have come out of a little girl’s clip… I took that as the omen… some stones, lucky stones, that I feel give me good energy and take away all the negativity.” Among them is a tribute to her muse: “She’s no more, but she is my everything… Audrey Hepburn.”
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For Mouni, writing matters: “I always have a notebook… I’m a bit of an old-school person… I picked this pencil up from the Brontë sisters’ parsonage… I wrote a few lines of Wuthering Heights with it.”
And, of course, “Phone, yeah, sorry, it’s very important. And your headphones, to listen to music when you’re travelling. The first thing I do after I come out of an airport is put on my headphones and listen to music.”
Perfume lovers, take note: “I love ouds; all kinds of ouds… this one is my everyday, all-day, night perfume.” She even has miniature backups, clips, wipes, sanitiser, hand cream, strepsils (for that bad throat), and… someone else’s headphones? “I think by mistake I’ve kept my brother’s headphones.”
To end, she reveals her absolute essentials: “My lip balm, my elaichi, my charms, a pen, my perfume, and a book… and my cards. I could do without a wallet, but I need my cards.” Talking about her elaichi pouch, she said, “I’m not a gum person at all. And I love elaichi.”
