Bangali Actress Suchitra Sen 1931

Suchitra Sen (born 6 April 1931) (Bangla: সুচিত্রা সেন) or Rama Dasgupta is an Indian actress who acted in several Bengali films. In particular, the movies in which she paired opposite another legend in Bengali films, Uttam Kumar, became classics in the history of Bengali cinema. She now lives a life of a recluse rarely making any public appearances. When she left movies, she was slowly but steadily losing the position of leading lady of Bengali silver screen.

She is the first Indian actress to be awarded in an international film festival (Best Actress award for the movie Saat Paake Bandha in 1963 Moscow film festival). Her films with Uttam Kumar are still shown as re-runs on Bengali TV channels such as ETV Bangla, Aakash Bangla, DD7 Bangla and so forth; many of them are available on video CD. Notably, she allegedly refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005, preferring to live in seclusion out of the public eye.

Personal life and education

Sen was born in Pabna, British India (now Bangladesh). Her father Karunamoy Dasgupta was the head master of the local school and her mother Indira Devi was a homemaker. She was their fifth child and third daughter. She had her formal education in Pabna.

She married Dibanath Sen, son of a wealthy Bengali industrialist, Adinath Sen, in 1947 and had one child, Moon Moon Sen, a noted actress.

Sen made a successful entry after marriage into Bengali films circa 1952, and then a less successful transition to the Bollywood film industry. According to some unconfirmed but persistent reports in the Bengali press, her marriage was severely strained by her success in the film industry.

Career

Sen made her debut in films with Shesh Kothaay in 1952, but the film was never released. The following year saw her act opposite Uttam Kumar in Sharey Chuattor a film by Nirmal Dey. The film was a box-office hit and remembered for launching Uttam-Suchitra as a leading pair. They went on to become the icons for Bengali dramas for more than 20 years, becoming almost a genre to themselves. She received a Best Actress Award for the film Devdas (1955), which was her first Hindi movie. Her patented Bengali melodramas and romances especially with Uttam Kumar, made her the most famous Bengali actress ever. Her films ran through the 1960s and the 1970s. Her husband died, but she continued to act in films, such as the Hindi hit film Aandhi (1974), where she played a politician. Aandhi was inspired by India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sen received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress, while Sanjeev Kumar, who essayed the role of her husband, won the Filmfare as Best Actor.

Her international success came in the year of 1963, when she won the best actress award in Moscow Film Festival for the movie Saat Paake Bandha. In fact, she is the first female to receive an international film award.

She refused Satyajit Ray's offer due to date problem, as a result Ray never made the film Devi Chawdhurani. She also refused Raj Kapoor's offer for a film under RK banner. She retired from the screen in 1978 after a career of over 25 years to a life of quiet seclusion. She has avoided the public gaze after her retirement and has devoted her time to the Ramakrishna Mission. Suchitra Sen was a contender for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2005, provided she was ready to accept it in person. Her refusal to go to New Delhi and personally receive the award from the President of India deprived her of that award.

Selected Bengali filmography

Year	Movie	Director	Co-stars
1953	Saat Number Kayedi	Sukumar Dasgupta	Samar Roy
1953	Bhagaban Srikrishna Chaitanya	Debaki Bose	Basanta Choudhuri
1953	Sharey Chuattor	Nirmal Dey	Uttam Kumar
1953	Kajori	Niren Lahiri
1954	Sadanander Mela	Sukumar Dasgupta	Uttam Kumar
1954	Agnipariksha	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1954	Ora Thaake Odhare	Sukumar Dasgupta	Uttam Kumar
1954	Grihaprabesh	Ajay Kar	Uttam Kumar
1954	Atom Bomb	Taru Mukherjee	Robin Majumdar
1954	Dhuli	Pinaki Mukherjee	Prasanta Kumar
1954	Maraner Parey	Satish Dasgupta	Uttam Kumar
1954	Balaygras	Pinaki Mukherjee	Uttam Kumar
1954	Annapurnar Mandir	Naresh Mitra	Uttam Kumar
1955	Shapmochan	Sudhir Mukherjee	Uttam Kumar
1955	Sabar Uparey	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1955	Snaajhghar	Ajay Kar	Bikash Roy
1955	Devdas (Hindi)	Bimal Roy	Dilip Kumar
1955	Snaajher Pradeep	Sudhangshu Mukherjee	Uttam Kumar
1955	Mejo Bou	Debnarayan Gupta	Bikash Roy
1955	Bhalabaasa	Debaki Bose	Bikash Roy
1956	Sagarika	Agragami	Uttam Kumar
1956	Trijama	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1956	Amar Bou	Khagen Roy	Bikash Roy
1956	Shilpi	Agragami	Uttam Kumar
1956	Ekti Raat	Chitto Bose	Uttam Kumar
1956	Subharaatri	Sushil Majumdar	Basanta Choudhury
1957	Harano Sur	Ajay Kar	Uttam Kumar
1957	Pathe Holo Deri	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1957	Jeeban Trishna	Asit Sen	Uttam Kumar
1957	Chandranath	Kartick Chatterjee	Uttam Kumar
1957	Musafir (Hindi)	Hrishikesh Mukherjee	Dilip Kumar
1957	Champakali (Hindi)	Nandlal Jaswantlal	Bharat Bhushan
1958	Rajlakshmi O Srikanta	Haridas Bhattacharya	Uttam Kumar
1958	SuryaToran	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1958	Indrani	Niren Lahiri	Uttam Kumar
1959	Deep Jwele Jaai	Asit Sen	Basanta Choudhury
1959	Chaaowa Pawoa	Jatrik	Uttam Kumar
1960	Hospital	Sushil Majumdar	Ashok Kumar
1960	Smriti Tuku Thaak	Jatrik	Asitbaran
1960	Bombai Ka Baboo (Hindi)	Raj Khosla	Dev Anand
1960	Sarhad (Hindi)	Shankar Mukherjee	Dev Anand
1961	Saptapadi	Ajay Kar	Uttam Kumar
1961	Saathihara	Sukumar Dasgupta	Uttam Kumar
1962	Bipasha	Agradoot	Uttam Kumar
1963	Saat Paake Badha	Ajay Kar	Soumitra Chatterjee
1963	Uttar Phalguni	Asit Sen	Bikash Roy, Dilip Mukherjee
1964	Sandhya Deeper Sikha	Haridas Bhattacharya	Bikash Roy
1966	Mamta (Hindi)	Asit Sen	Ashok Kumar, Dharmendra
1967	Grihadaha	Subodh Mitra	Uttam Kumar
1969	Kamallata	Harisadhan Dasgupta	Uttam Kumar
1970	Megh Kalo	Sushil Mukherjee	Basanta Choudhury
1971	Fariyaad	Bijoy Bose	Utpal Dutta
1971	Nabaraag	Bijoy Bose	Uttam Kumar
1972	Alo Amaar Alo	Pinaki Mukherjee	Uttam Kumar
1972	Haar Maana Haar	Salil Sen	Uttam Kumar
1974	Devi Chaudhurani	Dinen Gupta	Ranjit Mallick
1974	Srabana Sandhya	Chitra Sarathi	Samar Roy
1975	Priyo Bandhabi	Hiren Nag	Uttam Kumar
1975	Aandhi (Hindi)	Gulzar	Sanjeev Kumar
1976	Datta	Ajay Kar	Soumitra Chatterjee
1978	Pranoy Pasha	Mangal Chakrabarty	Soumitra Chatterjee

Selected Hindi filmography

• Devdas (1955), co-starring Dilip Kumar;
• Musafir (1957), co-starring Dilip Kumar;
• Champakali (1957)
• Bombai Ka Baboo (1960),co-starring Dev Anand;
• Mamta (1966) (a remake of her Bengali film Uttor Falguni) co-starring Dharmendra and Ashok Kumar
• Aandhi (1975), co-starring Sanjeev Kumar; this film was banned for a while, because it was felt to portray Indira Gandhi

Biographies

1. Suchitra Sen : A Legend in Her Lifetime by Shoma A. Chatterji. New Delhi, Rupa & Co., 2002, 80 p., photographs, ISBN 81-7167998-6. 2. Suchitra Sen autobiography

Awards and nominations

• Nominated:Filmfare Best Actress Award-Mamta
• Nominated:Filmfare Best Actress Award-Aandhi