SUCHITRA SEN:
The Unmatc hable
Golde n Diva of India n
Silver Screen

Santanu Ganguly

The kind of respect and fan following Suchitra Sen got from the people of Bengal, I doubt any other actress in India can match it. She was known to be one of the most dignified and elegant actresses of her time. She lived her life on her own terms and conditions. She was born on 6th April 1931 in a very progressive Boddi family to Karunamoy Dasgupta and Indira Devi at Bari village of Belkuchi Upazila, now in Sirajgonj District, Greater Pabna in the present day Pabna District of Bangladesh. Her father was the headmaster of the local school. After the partition in 1947, their family came to Kolkata and she got married to a wealthy industrialist Dibanath Sen. He helped initiate her career by sponsonsoring it. While her father-in-law, Adinath Sen, was a great supporter of her acting career despite the fact that she was a married woman, which was quite remarkable for those days. Suchitra Sen started her filmy career in 1951 with the film Atom Bomb as an extra, and in 1952 with an unreleased film Shesh Kothay (Where is the End) but finally, she appeared in the film Saat Number Kayedi (Prisoner No. 7) as the lead actress in 1953. The same year she paired up with the legendary Bengali hero, Uttam Kumar, for the first time, in the film Sade Chuattor (Seventy four and half ). From there, the historic journey of the all-time favourite Uttam-Suchitra pair started to rule over millions of Bengali hearts.