Suchitra Sen

Suchitra Sen
Sen as Paro in Bimal Roy's Devdas (1955)
Born
Roma Dasgupta

(1931-04-06)6 April 1931
Bhanga Bari, Sirajganj District, Bengal Presidency, British India
(present-day Pabna District, Bangladesh)
Died17 January 2014(2014-01-17) (aged 82)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
OccupationActress
Years active1952–1979
WorksFilmography
Spouse
Dibanath Sen
​
​
(m. 1947; died 1970)​
ChildrenMoon Moon Sen
RelativesRaima Sen (granddaughter)
Riya Sen (granddaughter)
AwardsPadma Shri (1972)
Banga Bibhushan (2012)
Signature

Suchitra Sen (Bengali: [ʃuˈt͡ʃitːra ˈʃen] ⓘ; born Roma Dasgupta, Bengali: [ˈrɔma ˈdaʃɡupto] ⓘ; 6 April 1931 – 17 January 2014), widely known as the Mahanayika (lit. 'Great actress'), was an Indian actress who worked in Bengali and Hindi cinema. The movies in which she was paired opposite Uttam Kumar became classics in the history of Bengali cinema.[1]

Sen was the first Indian actress to receive an award at an international film festival when, at the 1963 Moscow International Film Festival, she won the Silver Prize for Best Actress for Saat Pake Bandha.[2][3] She was catapulted to stardom after she was cast as Vishnupriya by Devaki Kumar Bose in his Bhagaban Shree Krishna Chaitanya (1953).[4]

In 1972, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.[5] From 1979 on, she retreated from public life and shunned all forms of public contact; for this she is often compared to Greta Garbo.[6][7] In 2005, she refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest cinematic award in India, to stay out of the public eye.[8] In 2012, she was conferred the West Bengal Government's highest honour: Banga Bibhushan.[9] Her first official release was Sukumar Dasgupta's Saat Number Kayedi (1953).[10]

  1. ^ Vijay Kaushik; Bela Rani Sharma (1998). Women's rights and world development. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. p. 368. ISBN 81-7625-015-5.
  2. ^ "Suchitra Sen, Bengal's sweetheart". NDTV. 17 January 2014. Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  3. ^ "3rd Moscow International Film Festival (1963)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  4. ^ "Bhagwan Shri Krishna Chaitanya (1953) - Review, Star Cast, News, Photos". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2013)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. 1972: 130: Smt Suchitra Sen
  6. ^ Bannerjee, Monideepa (17 January 2014). "Why Suchitra Sen became a recluse and other stories". NDTV. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  7. ^ "India's Greta Garbo' Suchitra Sen dies". 17 January 2013. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Suchitra Sen awarded Banga-Bibhusan". Zee News India. 20 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  9. ^ Das, Mohua (20 May 2012). "The perils of a packed prize podium Ravi Shankar declines award". Telegraph, Kolkata. Calcutta, India. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  10. ^ Dasgupta, Sukumar. "Saat Number Kayedi". Retrieved 7 December 2018.