Suchitra Sen was born on 6 April 1931. She was one of the most famous actresses in India and West Bengal. She became so popular because of working particularly with Uttam Kumar, who was a very strong actor throughout Bengal. Uttam-Suchitra pair is still considered as the best pair in Bangla Cinema. Now he is living retired. It is spoken than Suchitra was gradually losing her popularity as the best heroine when Uttam Kumar gave up acting. She is the first Indian actress who won an award in an international film festival (Best Actress award for ‘Saat Paake Badha’ in 1963 in the Moscow film festival).
Early Life
Suchitra Sen was born in an aristocratic Hindu family in Pabna. Her father’s name was Korunamoy Dasgupta and mother’s name was Indira Dasgupta. Although she is known today as Suchitra Sen, in childhood her name was Rama Dasgupta. Rama was the fifth child and third daughter of her family. In 1947 after leaving for Calcutta, she got married to Dibanath Senate after marriage, she became Rama Sen. Her name is associated with the gesture of 'Sen' designation from her in-laws. Rama Dasgupta became Rama Sen.
Movie Life
In 1952, she started her journey with the film ‘Shesh Kothay’, but the film was not released.
The next year she starred Uttam Kumar in the film named ‘Shaare Chuattor'. That film achieved success in the box-office. Suchitra-Uttam pair is a memorable gift of today. Their pair was the undisputed icon for the next 20 years in Bangla Cinema.
She won an award for the Best Actress in 1955 for the film Devdas, which was her first Hindi movie. She is the most famous actress in the Bengali film for creating romanticism with Uttam Kumar in Bengali film industry. In the early 1960s and 1970s, her films released. After her husband’s death, she continued her actions such as the movie Andhi. In this film, she played the role of a leader. It is said that Indira Gandhi was the motivation for this role. She was nominated for the Film fare Best Supporting Actress, and her husband, played by Sanjeev Kumar won the Best Actor Award.
In 1978, after almost 25 years of glorious acting, she took retirement from the film. After that, she went to Ramakrishna Mission for novice service. In 2005, Suchitra Sen was chosen for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. However, she was not given that award for objecting to taking the award from the president of India by going Delhi herself.
Her daughter Munmun Sen, granddaughter Riya Sen, and Raima Sen have also acted in movies.
