Suchitra Sen

Suchitra Sen was born on 6 April 1931, in a Bengali family{{Cite web |title=Suchitra sen Filmography {{!}} Biography of Suchitra sen |url=https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/celeb-details/suchitra-sen |access-date=2022-01-10 |website=www.indianfilmhistory.com |language=en}} of Bhanga Bari village of Belkuchi Thana in Bengal Province of British India (now in Pabna District, Bangladesh).{{cite web|url=https://www.mindat.org/feature-11285941.html|title=Bhangabari, Belkuchi Sirajganj, Rajshahi Division|work=Mindat.org}}{{cite web |url=http://www.tripurainfo.com/citizen_services/helping_bytes/april_born.html |title=APRIL BORN a few PERSONALITIES |publisher=tripurainfo.com |access-date=23 October 2008 |last=Deb |first=Alok Kumar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210082337/http://www.tripurainfo.com/citizen_services/helping_bytes/april_born.html |archive-date=10 December 2008}}{{cite news |title=Garbo meets Sen Two women bound by beauty and mystery |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080302/jsp/entertainment/story_8968619.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629010731/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080302/jsp/entertainment/story_8968619.jsp |archive-date=29 June 2013 |access-date=2 June 2012 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=8 July 2008 |location=Calcutta, India}} Her father, Korunamoy Dasgupta, was a Sanitary Inspector of Pabna Municipality and her mother, Indira Devi, was a homemaker. Sen was their fifth child and second daughter. She was a granddaughter of the poet Rajanikanta Sen.{{cite web |url=http://www.sirajganj.gov.bd/node/367534 |title=প্রখ্যাত ব্যক্তিত্ব |access-date=2014-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222013638/http://www.sirajganj.gov.bd/node/367534 |archive-date=22 February 2014}} She received her formal education in Pabna Government Girls High School. The violence of Partition in 1947 brought her family to West Bengal.{{cite web |url=http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/reclusive-legend/article5601465.ece |title=Suchitra Sen: Reclusive legend |work=Frontline |date=7 February 2014 |access-date=30 January 2014 |author=Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay}} Here she married Dibanath Sen, son of wealthy industrialist Adinath Sen, in 1947, at the age of 16 years.{{cite news |last=Chakraborty |first=Ajanta |title=Actress Suchitra Sen's secrets out! |newspaper=TNN (Times of India) |date=18 June 2011}}{{cite news |date=28 July 2022 |title=Suchitra Sen: অন্তরালে থাকার সময় কে ছিল সুচিত্রা সেনের দৈনন্দিন জীবনের সঙ্গী, উত্তমকুমার নাকি অন্য কেউ? |work=The Bengali Chronicle |url=https://thebengalichronicle.com/with-whom-suchitra-sen-kept-contact-after-isolation-from-limelight-act/ |access-date=28 July 2022 |lang=bn}} She had one daughter, Moon Moon Sen, who is a former actress. Suchitra's father-in-law, Adinath Sen, was supportive of her acting career in films after her marriage.{{cite news |author=Deepanjana Pal |url=http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/rip-suchitra-sen-it-is-the-end-of-a-fairytale-1345169.html |title=RIP Suchitra Sen. It is the end of a fairytale |work=Firstpost |access-date=20 January 2014}} Her industrialist husband invested greatly in her career and supported her.{{cite web |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengali-actress-suchitra-sen-passes-away-kolkata/1/338239.html |title=Bengali cinema's golden queen Suchitra Sen no more: Movies, News |work=India Today |date=17 January 2014 |access-date=20 January 2014}} He died in 1970.

Sen had made a successful entry into Bengali films in 1952, and then a less successful transition into the Hindi movie industry. According to persistent but unconfirmed reports in the Bengali press, her marriage was strained by her success in the film industry.{{cite news |url=http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/rip-suchitra-sen-it-is-the-end-of-a-fairytale-1345169.html |title=RIP Suchitra Sen. It is the end of a fairytale |last=Pal |first=Deepanjana |date=17 January 2014 |work=Firstpost |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Suchitra Sen made her debut in films with Shesh Kothaay in 1952, but it was never released.{{cite book |editor1=Gulazāra |editor2=Govind Nihalani |editor3=Saibal Chatterjee |title=Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema |year=2003 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7991-066-0 |pages=PT647 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8y8vN9A14nkC}} The following year saw her act opposite Uttam Kumar in Sharey Chuattor, a film by Nirmal Dey. It was a box-office hit and is 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 unto themselves.{{cite web |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/uttam-kumar-and-mrs-sen-the-magical-hypnotic-uttamsuchitra-years/445961-8-73.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119221852/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/uttam-kumar-and-mrs-sen-the-magical-hypnotic-uttamsuchitra-years/445961-8-73.html |archive-date=19 January 2014 |title=Uttam Kumar and 'Mrs Sen': The magical, hypnotic Uttam-Suchitra years |last=Nag |first=Amitava |date=17 January 2014 |access-date=17 January 2014}} She has acted in 30 of her 60 films with Uttam Kumar. Her first Hindi movie was Devdas (1955). Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award best actor award and Vyjayantimala won best supporting actress award. Her Bengali melodramas and romances, especially with Uttam Kumar, made her the most famous Bengali actress ever.{{cite news |url=http://www.firstpost.com/living/why-suchitra-sen-is-a-part-of-every-bengalis-favourite-memories-1344895.html |title=Why Suchitra Sen is a part of every Bengali's favourite memories |last=Dasgupta |first=Piyashree |date=17 January 2014 |work=Firstpost |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Her films ran through the 1960s and '70s. Suchitra went on to act in films such as in the Hindi film Aandhi (1974). Aandhi was inspired by India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.{{cite web |url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-the-best-films-of-suchitra-sen/20140117.htm |title=The Best Films of Suchitra Sen |date=17 January 2014 |publisher=Rediff |access-date=17 January 2014}} Sen received a Filmfare Award nomination as Best Actress, and Sanjeev Kumar, who played the role of her husband, won the Filmfare as Best Actor.{{cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/suchitra-sen-a-superstar-in-bengal-an-accidental-tourist-in-mumbai/ |title=Suchitra Sen: A superstar in Bengal, an accidental tourist in Mumbai |last=Gupta |first=Subhra |date=17 January 2014 |work=The Indian Express |access-date=17 January 2014}}

One of her best known performances was in Deep Jwele Jaai (1959). She played in a character named Radha Mitra, a hospital nurse employed by a progressive psychiatrist, Pahadi Sanyal, who is expected to develop a personal relationship with male patients as part of their therapy. Sanyal diagnoses the hero, Basanta Choudhury, as having an unresolved Oedipal dilemma. He orders Radha to play the role though she is hesitant as in a similar case she had fallen in love with the patient. She finally agrees and bears up to Choudhury's violence, impersonates his mother, sings his poetic compositions and in the process falls in love again. In the end, even as she brings about his cure, she suffers a nervous breakdown. The film is noted for its partly lit close-ups of Sen, which set the tone of the film.{{cite web |url=http://www.sukanyaverma.com/columns-and-reviews/2013/khamoshi |title=Waheeda Rehman's haunting melancholy in Khamoshi. |last=Verma |first=Sukanya |date=2 December 2013 |access-date=17 January 2014}} Asit Sen remade the film in Hindi as Khamoshi (1969), with Waheeda Rehman in the Suchitra Sen role.{{cite web |url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-waheeda-rehmans-haunting-melancholy-in-khamoshi/20131121.htm |title=Waheeda Rehman's haunting melancholy in Khamoshi |date=21 November 2013 |publisher=Rediff |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Suchitra Sen's other landmark film with Asit Sen was Uttar Falguni (1963). She plays the dual role of a courtesan, Pannabai, and her daughter Suparna, a lawyer. Critics note that she brought a great deal of poise, grace and dignity to the role of a fallen woman determined to see her daughter grow up in a good, clean environment.{{cite news |url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/people/suchitra-sen-bengal-s-sweetheart-472095 |title=Suchitra Sen, Bengal's sweetheart |last=Ray |first=Gitanjali |date=17 January 2014 |publisher=NDTV |access-date=17 January 2014}}{{cite magazine |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengali-actress-suchitra-sen-passes-away-kolkata/1/338239.html |title=Bengali cinema's golden queen Suchitra Sen no more |date=17 January 2014 |magazine=India Today |access-date=17 January 2014}}{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/suchitra-sen-7055 |title=Endearments of boundless charm |last=Jamil |first=Maqsud |date=17 January 2014 |work=Daily Star |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Suchitra Sen's international success came in 1963, when she won the best actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival for the movie Saat Paake Bandha, becoming the first Indian actress to receive an international film award.{{Cite news |date=2023-10-12 |title=Thursday throwback: ‘Let me die in peace!’ Suchitra Sen’s last words before she passed away left doctors & medical attendants in tears |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/did-you-know/thursday-throwback-let-me-die-in-peace-suchitra-sens-last-words-before-she-passed-away-left-doctors-medical-attendants-in-tears/articleshow/104369146.cms |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}{{Cite web |last=Rizvi |first=Iqbal |date=2018-04-06 |title=Suchitra Sen: Remembering the timeless Bengali beauty |url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/people/remembering-the-timeless-bengali-beauty-on-her-birth-anniversary |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=National Herald |language=en}}

A film critic Saibal Chatterjee summed up Suchitra Sen's career and continuing legacy as "one half of one of Indian cinema's most popular and abiding screen pairs, Suchitra Sen redefined stardom in a way that few actors have done, combining understated sensuality, feminine charm and emotive force and a no-nonsense gravitas to carve out a persona that has never been matched, let alone surpassed in Indian cinema".{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25648140 |title=Suchitra Sen: Iconic Indian Bengali actress dies |last=Chatterjee |first=Saibal |date=17 January 2014 |publisher=BBC |access-date=17 January 2014}}

File:Suchitra Sen Tribute Exhibition - Smritituku Thak Pavilion - 38th International Kolkata Book Fair - Milan Mela Complex - Kolkata 2014-01-29 8065-8067.JPG in 2014. 29 Jan 2014.]]

Suchitra Sen refused Satyajit Ray's offer due to a scheduling problem. As a result, Ray never made the film Devi Chaudhurani, based on the novel written by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. She also refused Raj Kapoor's offer for a film under the RK banner.{{cite news |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/suchitra-said-no-to-satyajit-ray-raj-kapoor-114011700874_1.html |title=Suchitra said 'no' to Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor |agency=Press Trust of India |date=17 January 2014 |newspaper=Business Standard |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Sen continued to act after her husband's death in 1970, but called it a day when Pronoy Pasha flopped,{{cite web |agency=Indo-Asian News Service |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news-interviews/Suchitra-Sen-The-quintessential-enigma-despite-59-films/articleshow/28935237.cms |title=Suchitra Sen: The quintessential enigma despite 59 films |work=The Times of India |date=6 April 1931 |access-date=20 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118030348/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news-interviews/Suchitra-Sen-The-quintessential-enigma-despite-59-films/articleshow/28935237.cms |archive-date=18 January 2014}} and retired from the screen in 1978 after a career of over 25 years to a life of quiet seclusion. She was to do a film project; Nati Binodini, also starring Rajesh Khanna,{{cite web |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news-interviews/Uttam-wanted-to-meet-Suchitra-Sen-a-week-before-his-death/articleshow/28971702.cms |title=Uttam wanted to meet Suchitra Sen a week before his death |work=The Times of India |date=28 September 2012 |access-date=20 January 2014}} but the film was shelved mid-way after shooting when she decided to quit acting.

She assiduously avoided the public gaze after her retirement and devoted her time to the Ramakrishna Mission.

File:Suchitra Sen Remembrance - Rabindra Sadan - Kolkata 2014-01-19 6823.JPG, Kolkata, on 19 January 2014.]]

Suchitra Sen was admitted to the hospital on 24 December 2013 and was diagnosed with a lung infection. She was reported to have been recovering well in the first week of January.{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/veteran-actor-suchitra-sens-health-improves/article5538269.ece |title=Veteran actor Suchitra Sen's health improves |newspaper=The Hindu |date=4 January 2014 |access-date=17 January 2014}} But her condition worsened later and she died at 8.25 am on 17 January 2014, due to a heart attack. She was 82 years old.{{cite news |url=http://www.financialexpress.com/news/veteran-actress-suchitra-sen-dies-in-kolkata-hospital-after-massive-heart-attack/1218792 |title=Veteran actress Suchitra Sen dies in Kolkata hospital after massive heart attack |newspaper=The Financial Express |date=12 June 2012 |access-date=17 January 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-suchitra-sen-suffers-massive-heart-attack-passes-away-1952306 |title=Suchitra Sen suffers massive heart attack, passes away – Entertainment – DNA |work=Daily News and Analysis |date=22 October 2013 |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Suchitra Sen's death was condoled by many leaders, including the President of India Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.{{cite web |title=Indian Leaders Condole the Sad Demise of Suchitra Sen |url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/01/indian-leaders-condole-the-sad-demise-of-suchitra-sen/ |work=Biharprabha News |access-date=17 January 2014}} A gun salute was given before her cremation, upon the orders of Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25648140 |title=Suchitra Sen: Iconic Indian Bengali actress dies |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=17 January 2014 |access-date=17 January 2014}}

Respecting her fierce desire for complete privacy, her last rites were performed at Kolkata's Kaioratola crematorium, barely five and half hours after she died, with her coffin reaching the crematorium in a flower-decked hearse with dark-tinted windows. Despite being Bengal's greatest star, referred to as "Mahanayika", she had consciously chosen to step into oblivion and she remained an enigma till her last, although thousands of fans had converged at the crematorium to catch one last glimpse of their idol. Her entire medical treatment had also been done in seclusion and secrecy.{{cite web |url=http://www.learningandcreativity.com/rahe-na-rahe-humlegendary-actress-suchitra-sen-bids-adieu/ |title=Rahe na rahe hum...Legendary Actress Suchitra Sen Bids Adieu |publisher=Learning and Creativity |date=17 January 2014 |access-date=22 January 2014}}

From 1953 to 1978, both in Bengali and Hindi, Suchitra Sen acted in 61 films.

Suchitra Sen received 10 awards during her lifetime. In 1963, she became the first Indian actress to receive an international award.

• 1962 – Won BFJA Award for Best Actress for Saptapadi
• 1964 – Won BFJA Award for Best Actress for Uttar Phalguni
• 1973 – Won BFJA Award for Best Actress for Alo Amaar Alo
• 1976 – Won BFJA Award for Best Actress (Hindi) for Aandhi
• 1963 – Won 3rd Moscow International Film Festival for Best Actress for Saat Paake Badha
• 1967 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Mamta
• 1972 – Won Padma Shri for notable contribution in arts
• 1975 – Won Filmfare Bangla Award for Best Actress for cinema Priya Bandhabi{{cite news|url =https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/movie-awards/filmfare-awards-winners/bollywood/1975/101|title=List of Filmfare Award winners of 1975|newspaper=The Times of India |agency=Times of India |publisher=27 February 2024 |access-date=27 May 2024}}
• 1976 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Aandhi
• 2012 – Won Banga Bibhushan for lifetime achievement in film acting
• 2014 – Won Filmfare East Lifetime Achievement Award (Posthumous)

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• {{IMDb name|0784042}}
• {{Bollywood Hungama person|suchitra-sen}}
• {{Internet Archive author}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100102073600/http://calcuttaweb.com/cinema/suchitrasen.shtml Calcuttaweb article on Suchitra Sen]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

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Category:1931 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:Bengali Hindus

Category:Indian Hindus

Category:20th-century Indian actresses

Category:Indian film actresses

Category:Indian voice actresses

Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema

Category:Actresses in Bengali cinema

Category:People from Sirajganj District

Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts