Suchitra Sen Biography: The list of legendary actresses of Indian cinema can never be complete without Suchitra Sen. Indian audiences has always seen her beauty in films, but outside the screen Suchitra hardly met anyone. When she went away from the screen, people could not see her again till her death.
The ‘Dada Saheb Phalke Award’ received from the Government of India for contribution to cinema holds a very high status. Whoever is selected for this award, which is given by the President of the country, becomes an icon of Indian cinema in itself. Hindi film star Amitabh Bachchan, who is called ‘Great Hero’, received this award in 2019.
Table of Contents
Suchitra Sen Biography
In 2005, one of the most famous actresses of Indian cinema, Suchitra Sen was also offered this award. It is said that a Bengali film of this actress was to be made in Hindi with the memorable pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. But after watching the original film, Mr. Bachchan said with folded hands with full respect- ‘Yeh mujhse nahi hoga’.
When the award was offered to the legendary actress, a special note was sent that you will have to come to receive the award yourself. Reports say that Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who was the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, wanted this actress to come herself to receive her award.
But the actress chose to live in seclusion, away from the public eye, and stay away from India’s most prestigious cinema honor. This was the ‘great heroine’ Suchitra Sen, born on 6 April 1931.
Suchitra Sen, one of the most iconic actresses, was 47 years old when she appeared in the public eye for the last time. There were definitely some signs of growing age on his face. But her identity was the same beauty. Who had forced the audience to keep watching, without blinking an eyelid, in a 25-year-long filmi career.
In 2014 When she said goodbye to the world, she was 82 years old. But people still remember her at most 47 years old, because after that people could never see her face to face. Not even on his last journey!
Suchitra – Beginning of a Myth
Calcutta’s big nobleman Adinath Sen was looking for a girl for his son Dibanath’s marriage. In this connection, he found a family that came to West Bengal from Pabna district of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), during the partition of 1947.
No one knows what Adinath saw in 16-year-old Rama Dasgupta that made him his daughter-in-law. But stories tell that after the arrival of Rama, the life of Adinath’s son Dibanath changed, who started getting addicted to parties, alcohol and gambling.
In the very next year of marriage, a daughter was also born to Rama, who was named Moon Moon Sen. Who did films in many languages in India and became a big actress. But before this, Munmun’s mother, Rama herself had turned out to be an icon of cinema.
It was a big deal for a married mother of a child to step into acting in the 50s. But Rama took this big step and she was known as Suchitra Sen on the screen. Her first Bengali film was ‘Shesh Kothay’ (1952), but it was never released. But what happened after that Suchitra Ki taqdeer hi badal di.
Cinema’s Most Iconic Pair
Suchitra Sen’s first film that was released in theaters is ‘Saat Number Qaidi’ (1953). This film flopped badly, after which Suchitra Worked in Tarun Mukherjee’s film ‘Atom Bomb’ as a background artist. This film was made in 1951 but released in 1954. But before this, in 1953, her film ‘Sharey Chuattor’ (seventy seven and a half) started running well in theatres.
In this movie, she appeared for the first time with Uttam Kumar, who is also known as the ‘superhero’ of Bengali cinema. This film became a big hit and then the pair of Uttam-Suchitra became so popular that different directors repeated this pair a lot in films for almost 20 years. Reports suggest that out of 60 films in her career, Suchitra had done 30 with Uttam Kumar.
Most Popular Paro of ‘Devdas’
Bimal Roy’s National Award winning film ‘Devdas’ (1955), was the debut Hindi film of Suchitra. Roy had earlier approached Meena Kumari for the role, but her husband Kamal Amrohi put forward some conditions which were not acceptable to him. Till then Suchitra had given a superhit film like ‘Agnipariksha’ (1954) in Bengali with Uttam Kumar.
It is said that from here Suchitra was approached for the role of Paro by Bimal da. Vyjayanthimala was offered the National Award for Best Actress for her role as Chandramukhi in ‘Devdas’, but she declined the award saying that in the film Suchitra and my roles were equal!
British film critic Derek Malcolm said at one point that she does not consider Suchitra’s skill of ‘acting’ to be very impressive. According to Malcolm, there was a ‘permanent expression’ on her face which gave a different color to the characters.
Actor Soumitra Chatterjee who has worked with Suchitra in movie “saat paake bandha”, also said that ‘she was beautiful but I do not consider her the best actress. Suchitra used to play her characters in such a way, which is called ‘underplaying’ in cinema today.
In Hindi language, Suchitra worked in 7 films in total. Some of these were hits, some flops. But her portrayal of characters was always different from other actresses.
Powerful Characters and More Fees than Hero
In ‘Saptapadi’ Suchitra played a drunken Anglo-Indian woman soldier. In ‘Uttar Falguni’, she played a double role of a prostitute and her lawyer’s daughter. In ‘Deep Jelle Jaye’, she played the role of a nurse who pretends to be his wife to help the hero who is suffering from mental problems. In the 1950-60s, playing such characters on screen was a big thing in itself.
Suchitra had ot only played strong characters on screen, but also created a solid identity for herself outside the screen. Reports suggest that for the film ‘Bipasha’ (1962) Suchitra Had taken one lakh rupees as fee. This was the first time that a Bengali actress had charged such a fee.
It is also said that for many of her films, she got paid more than the hero of the film. Because people gathered to see her on the screen in such a way that his presence in the film had become a matter of discussion in itself.
Film “Ek Aandhi”
As an audience of Hindi cinema, whether you recognize her or not, she will definitely be remembered in Gulzar’s film Aandhi (1975). In this movie Suchitra played the role of a female politician. It was said that the story of the film and her character was inspired by Indira Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister of India at that time.
But in reality just the look of the character was inspired by Indira Gandhi. Suchitra One of the onscreen qualities for which he is remembered a lot is his acting on the songs. Even in ‘Aandhi’, ‘Tere Bina Zindagi Se’ and ‘Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor Aa Gaya Hai’ were very iconic. Both these songs are liked a lot even today.
Rejected films of top filmmakers
In the history of Indian cinema, the name of Satyajit Ray is also included in those who are called legendary filmmakers. Even in foreign countries, big filmmakers admit to being inspired by Satyajit.
It was Satyajit Ray who decided to make a film on the Bengali novel ‘Devi Chaudharani’ in the 1960s and approached Suchitra for the lead role. Due to some conditions applied by Satyajit Ray she flatly refused the offer.
Satyajit was also so particular about his film that after Suchitra refused, he stopped the project and never made this film. Once Raj Kapoor was also refused for the film. It is said that when she did not agree, Raj Saheb went to meet her. Raj Kapoor, known for his cool mood, sat on his knees and gave a bouquet of flowers to Suchitra.
It is said that his filmy style approach of Raj Kapoor didn’t liked by Suchitra Sen. Reports suggest that after turning down the film, Suchitra told one of her men ‘what does a man have to bow before a woman like that!’
Gopal Krishna Roy, who wrote her biography, says- ‘She was very moody and always used to go according to her mood. But as a person, she was very happy and lovely.
Disenchantment and Seclusion from Screens
In 1978, Suchitra’s film ‘Pranay Pasha’ was released and flopped. After this she was never seen on screen. She distanced herself from the eyes of the public and started living in a secluded place. When she decided to stay away from the screen, work had started on her film ‘Nati Bandini’ with Rajesh Khanna, but due to Suchitra’s decision, it had to be stopped midway.
It is also said that after the death of her famous screen partner, Uttam Kumar in 1980, she had largely distanced herself from the public eye. Reports suggest that before bidding goodbye to the world, Uttam Kumar Had called Suchitra and expressed his desire to meet him. But Suchitra told him ‘I am busy, we will meet later’.
Ramlal Nandi, whom Suchitra considered as her son, told in a later interview, ‘One day in 1978, she said – now I will not go to the studio. Then I was not intelligent enough to understand the value of this statement. Nandi’s uncle Asit Chowdhary used to run Chhayabani Production Company and Suchitra was very close to him. It was Asit who introduced Suchitra to Bharat Maharaj, the President of Ramakrishna Mission, her initiation-guru.
In her last days, away from the public eye, Suchitra devoted time to the Ramakrishna Mission and to gardening, studies, etc.
His biographer Roy said in an interview, ‘She created his young image in the hearts of his countless fans to keep.
Devanand, who worked with her in two films, wrote in his biography that he tried to meet Suchitra, but his close friends refused saying that ‘she doesn’t want to meet anyone.
Last Rites of Suchitra Sen
In December 2013, Suchitra was admitted to the hospital with a complaint of lung infection. There were reports in the first week of January that her condition was improving. But her health deteriorated again on 17 January 2014, Suchitra passed away. This was also taken care of during his treatment.that privacy is maintained. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also met her very secretly in hospital.
When Suchitra’s body was brought for the last rites at a crematorium in South Kolkata. So her dead body was in a car which was covered with white flowers and whose windows were black. People standing across the way, cameras of news channels and no one came to hear the news of his death. Could see how Suchitra looked in the last moments. Her body was taken out of the car in a coffin and she was placed on the pyre at such a place which was hidden from the eyes of the public.
It is famous that she once said, ‘I am an actress and I should be seen only on screen.’ Till the last moment, her family also took full care that Suchitra was remembered by the people as she was seen on the screen!
