#GoldenFrames: Suchitra Sen who revolutionised woman-centric movies in the 60s

Suchitra Sen acted for twenty-six years over three decades, after which she led a reclusive life. The actress worked in fifty-two Bengali movies and a few Hindi movies. Sen is known for Bengali melodramas and romances, especially with Uttam Kumar, making her the most famous Bengali actress ever. Her movies ran through the 1960s and the 1970s. She was often called the Greta Garbo of Indian cinema and Madhubala of Bengali Cinema. Sen challenged patriarchy with her acting skills, just like her bold roles.

Suchitra Sen was born as Roma Dasgupta on April 6, 1931, to Korunamoy Dasgupta and Pabna Dasgupta in Sirajganj District. Her mother, Indira Devi, was a housewife and her father was a headmaster in a local school in Pabna. Sen was their fifth child and second daughter.

She came from a Bengali Baidya-brahmin family and was the granddaughter of the poet Rajonikant Sen. Suchitra received her formal education in Pabna Government Girls High School.

Suchitra married Dibanath Sen, son of wealthy industrialist Adinath Sen, in 1947, at the age of fifteen. She had one daughter, Moon Moon Sen, a former actress. Suchitra's father-in-law, Adinath Sen, supported her acting career in movies after her marriage. Her industrialist husband invested significantly in her career and supported her.

Sen made her debut in the movie 'Shesh Kothaay' (1952), but it was never released. Sukumar Dasgupta's assistant Nitish Roy rechristened her name to Suchitra Sen.

By 1952, she signed three more movies— 'Kajori' (1953), 'Sharey Chuattor' (1953) and 'Bhagaban Srikrishna Chaitanya' (1953).

In the following year, she was seen with Uttam Kumar in 'Sharey Chuattor' (1953). The pair became the icons for Bengali dramas for more than twenty years, becoming almost a genre unto themselves.

Satyajit Ray had approached her for the title role in Bankim Chandra's historical fiction 'Debi Choudhurani'. After initially agreeing to it, the actress had to back out later due to the unavailability of dates. Sen later did the same movie in the title role, directed by Dinen Gupta, in 1974, opposite Ranjit Mullick.

In 1955, Sen entered Hindi cinema at the age of twenty-four. Filmmaker Bimal Roy cast her as Parvati (Paro) in his movie 'Devdas' (1955), based on the famous novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The movie was a superhit, and Sen received the Best Actress Award.

Sen worked with some big names in Hindi cinema, such as 'Devdas' (1955) with Dilip Kumar, 'Bombai Ka Babu' (1960) with Dev Anand, Mamta (1966) with Dharmendra and 'Aandhi' (1975) with Sanjeev Kumar.

(In photo: Dev Anand and Suchitra Sen in 'Sarhad,' 1960)