New York Times

Sunday January 19, 2014

Suchitra Sen, Actress Famed in Bengali Cinema, Dies at 82

By HARESH PANDYAJAN. 17, 2014

Suchitra Sen Associated Press

Suchitra Sen, one of India’s best-known movie actresses, who remained famous more than 30 years after she made her last film, died on Friday in Calcutta. She was 82.

The cause was a heart attack, said Dr. Subrata Maitra of Belle Vue Hospital, where she died.

Ms. Sen, who appeared in both Bengali and Hindi films, was in such demand at the height of her fame that the celebrated filmmaker Satyajit Ray scrapped his proposed film “Devi Chaudhurani” because she was not available. Her refusal to act in a film by the great Hindi showman Raj Kapoor made headlines.

She became a recluse after retiring from movies in 1978 and was often compared to another famous recluse, Greta Garbo. But she continued to be talked about nonetheless.

“She knew how to create that mystery around herself and how to carry it along with her long after she stepped out of the tinsel world,” the Bengali actress Madhabi Mukherjee said. “Even today, we talk about her, her films and her unique sense of style.”

Ms. Sen and Uttam Kumar were the most successful romantic pair in the history of Bengali cinema, famous for their passionate on-screen chemistry. They appeared together in 30 films, including the hits “Agni Pariksha” (1954) and “Saptapadi” (1961). 

Ms. Sen appeared in more than 50 Bengali films and seven Bollywood, or Hindi, films. Her first Bollywood film was Bimal Roy’s “Devdas” (1955), a major box-office success.

Her most famous Hindi film after “Devdas” was “Aandhi” (1975), which caused controversy because the character she played, an Indian politician, was thought to be based on Indira Gandhi, the country’s prime minister at the time. “Aandhi” was banned for a time during the state of emergency declared by Ms. Gandhi in 1975, although it had already been in theaters for several months.

Suchitra Sen was born Rama Dasgupta on April 6, 1931, in Pabna, which is now in Bangladesh. One of five children of Karunamoy Dasgupta, a school headmaster, and Indira Devi, a homemaker, she was originally more interested in singing than acting.

In 1951, she auditioned as a soundtrack singer but was instead offered an acting role by the director Sukumar Dasgupta. Her fourth film, the romantic comedy “Sharey Chuattar” (1953), was her first pairing with Uttam Kumar and her first major success.

Ms. Sen won many honors, including a Silver Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in the 1963 Bengali film “Saat Pake Bandha.” She was given the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, in 1972. In 2005 she turned down the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honor in Indian cinema, because she did not want to go to Delhi and collect it in person from the president of India. The West Bengal government gave her the Banga Bibhushanon, its highest award, in absentia in 2012.

Ms. Sen’s husband, Dibanath Sen, whom she married in 1947, died in 1970. She is survived by her daughter, Moon Moon Sen, a well-known Bengali and Hindi actress, and two granddaughters, Raima Sen and Riya Sen, who are also actresses.