Today marks the 88th birth anniversary of legendary actress Suchitra Sen.

Today marks the 88th birth anniversary of legendary actress Suchitra Sen.

In a career spanning 25 years, Suchitra paired with Bengal’s biggest matinee idol Uttam Kumar to usher in the golden era of Bengali cinema and came up with memorable performances in a number of cult Hindi movies like Devdas, Mamta, Musafir, Bambai ka Babu and Aandhi.

Born as Rama Dasgupta in Bangladesh to a schoolteacher father and homemaker mother, she was married at 16 years old to Dibanath Sen, the scion of a wealthy Kolkata-based business family. She changed her name to Suchitra when she made her 1952 screen debut in the Bengali film ‘Shesh Kothay’, which was never released. But a year later, she starred in ‘Sharey Chuattor’ with leading Bengali actor Uttam Kumar. The pair went on to deliver some of Bengali cinema’s biggest hits well into the 1970s.

People loved her pairing with the lead actor of the time, Uttam Kumar. Together they acted in one iconic film after another: Sare Chuattor, Saptapadi, Harano Shur, Pothe Holo Deri, Agnipariksha and many more films.

Described as “Mahanayika” (great actress), she had bewitched generations of film buffs with her grace and beauty.

She shall always be remembered by her countless fans for her versatile acting, which brought life into the celluloid characters she played in films.