Debashree Roy

Debashree Roy
Born
Chumki Roy

(1962-08-08) 8 August 1962 (age 62)[1][2]
Kolkata, West Bengal, India[3]
Other namesKolkatar rosogolla[4]
Alma materPark English School[5]
Occupations
Years active1966–present
OrganizationDebasree Roy Foundation[6][7]
WorksFull list
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994; div. 1995)​
RelativesRam Mukherjee (brother-in-law)
Rani Mukerjee (niece)[8]
AwardsNational Award[9]
BFJA Awards
Kalakar Awards[10]
Anandalok Award
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office
2011–2021
Preceded byKanti Ganguly
Succeeded byAlok Jaldata
ConstituencyRaidighi, West Bengal[11]
Personal details
Political partyTrinamool Congress (2011 – March 2021)
Notes

Debashree Roy (born 8 August 1962)[1] also known as Debasree Roy,[14] is an Indian actress, dancer, choreographer, politician and animal rights activist.[3][6][15] As an actress, she is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema.[16] She has been cited as the reigning queen of Bengali commercial cinema.[17] She acted in more than a hundred films and won over forty awards, including a National Award, three BFJA Awards, five Kalakar Awards and an Anandalok Award.[18] As a dancer, she is known for her stage adaptations of the various forms of Indian folk dances as well as her innovative dance forms imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance.[19] She runs Natraj dance troupe.[20] She is the founder of Debasree Roy Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works for the cause of stray animals.[6][21] Roy was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Raidighi constituency since 2011 till 2021.[3]

Her first acting assignment was Hiranmoy Sen's Bengali devotional film Pagal Thakur (1966) where she was cast as an infant Ramakrishna Paramhansa.[17] Her first leading role in Bengali cinema came with Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's film Nadi Theke Sagare (1978).[22] However she acted opposite Prem Nazir in Malayalam movie Ee Ganam Marakkumo (1978) even before this. She shot to wider recognition for her role in Aparna Sen's National Award winning directorial debut 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981)[23] and Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) under Rajshri Productions.[24] She also appeared in several other Hindi films such as Bura Aadmi (1982), Justice Chaudhury (1983), Phulwari (1984), Kabhie Ajnabi The (1985), Seepeeyan (1986) and Pyar Ka Sawan (1989).[16] After her Bengali film Troyee (1982) became a major success at box office, she concentrated more in Bengali cinema.[25][26] Her other major hits at the box office include films such as Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985),[27] Lalmahal (1986), Chokher Aloy (1989), Jhankar (1989),[28] Ahankar (1991)[29] and Yuddha (2005) to name a few.[30]

Roy was conferred with BFJA Award for Best Actress (1992) for the first time for her performance in Indar Sen's Bengali film Thikana (1991).[31] She was conferred with the National Film Award for Best Actress (1995) as well as BFJA Award for Best Actress (1997) for her role in Rituparno Ghosh's National Award winning Bengali film Unishe April (1994).[9][32] She collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the second time in his National Award winning Bengali film Asukh (1999) which once again earned her the BFJA Award for Best Actress (2000).[33] She was also critically acclaimed for her performances in films such as Anutap (1992), Sandhyatara (1994), Kaal Sandhya (1997), Prohor (2002) and Shilpantar (2004).[30]

Roy was trained in Odissi by Kelucharan Mahapatra.[34] She was exposed to the various forms of Indian folk dances as well by Mahapatra and took a sincere interest to adapt them on stage.[5] In 1991, she formed the dance troupe Natraj and their first venture Vasavdatta went on to receive full seat occupancy every time it was staged.[25] She, onwards ventured into an attempt to manifest the forms of folk dance of Bengal in Swapner Sandhane, an acclaimed production of Natraj.[25] She was most applauded for her wider attempt to present the various forms of Indian folk dance in Bichitro, the first abroad production of Natraj.[35][17] In Navras, she exhibited an innovative dance form imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance.[36][37]

  1. ^ a b "West Bengal Assembly Election 2011". ceowestbengal.nic.in. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Debashree Roy". aboxoffice.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Debasree Roy MLA of RAIDIGHI West Bengal contact address & email". nocorruption.in. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Debashree: 'রূপ নিয়ে অহংকার কোরো না মাসি, সেরা রসগোল্লাও আজ বাসি', নেটমাধ্যমে কটাক্ষ দেবশ্রীকে". www.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference filmsack.jimdo.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c "Rescued from sticks of death". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations". fiapo.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Rani Mukherji biography in pictures". www.lightscamerabollywood.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :42nd1995 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Kalakar Awards Winner" (PDF). 25 April 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  11. ^ "TMC MLA Debashree Roy makes unsuccessful attempt to meet West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Politics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ "Debasree Roy movies, filmography, biography and songs". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Nataraj Group". www.calcuttayellowpages.com. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Debashree Roy set to return to acting after 10-year hiatus". www.outlookindia.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  17. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "Debashree Roy to return on screens with Bengali TV serial after decade-long hiatus". Firstpost. 30 April 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference :Bhashyo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ "- FAMILY album". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Put India on cruelty-free cosmetics map: Debasree Roy". @businessline. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference :11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ "Directorate of Film Festival". iffi.nic.in. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  24. ^ "Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981)". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  25. ^ a b c "The Superlative Roy". Filmzack. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  26. ^ মক্ষীরানি. Anandalok. (March 1984 ed.)
  27. ^ "Bhalobasha Bhalobasha (1985)". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  28. ^ "Jankar (1989)". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Ahankar (1991)". Cinestaan. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  30. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :Bhashyo2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ FilmiClub. "BFJA Awards 1992: Complete list of Awards and Nominations". FilmiClub. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  32. ^ FilmiClub. "BFJA Awards 1997: Complete list of Awards and Nominations". FilmiClub. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  33. ^ "46th National Film Festival, 1999". iffi.nic.in. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  34. ^ "Debashree Roy | Bollywood Bash". www.bollywoodbash.in. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. ^ সম্রাট ও সুন্দরী. Anandalok. (November 1995 ed.)