Suchitra Sen dies in seclusion
Indian film actress Suchitra Sen died in Calcutta, West Bengal on Friday. She was in her 82 years. Suchitra acted in 52 Bengali movies and eight Hindis, 32 of them with late Uttam Kumar, before she retired to secluded life in 1978 after which she never appeared in public. The reasons whereof had not yet been known to the members of the public, giving birth a mystery. Her actress daughter Munmun Sen and two grand daughters Raima Sen and Ria Sen, who had access to her secluded life, never explained to the press or the members of the public about the reason of such isolated life.
Surely, the late actress born at Pabna district town of the then Bengal created a special image in the Bengali filmdom. The audiences liked her acting very much and therefore watched her movies more than once. Appealing voice, magical look, elegant body language, gentle dress and strong personality brought her close to the cine-audiences. She was surely different from her contemporary actresses and that is why her acted movies paired with other actors also drew crowds in the cinema halls. In this regard, movies ‘Dwip Jele Jai’ paired with Basanta Chowdhury and Sat Pake Bandha with Soumitra Chatterjee may be mentioned.
But Suchitra had not been perhaps seen to play any character in any of the ‘Art’ films like ‘Akaler Sandhane’ and ‘Ekdin Praditin’ directed by Mrinal Sen, ‘Jalshaghar and ‘Pather Panchali’ by Satyajit Roy’. We do not know whether she rejected the offer or the directors did not choose her for their stories. In this regard, Supriya, Aparna Sen, Debosree and Mamata Sankar are more successful than her.
However, of the movies she acted, Sagarika, Sabar Upare, Harano Sur, Dwip Jele Jai and Agniparikasha were the most thriving. Her personal life was always a guarded secret and little is known about her family life.
Khurshida Haque
Dhaka
