Suchitra Sen had to pay quite the price for her unique self-exile spanning over 30 years. In 2005, she was offered the Dadasaheb Phalke award with the rider that she would accept it in person. She declined. It couldn’t have been an easy decision for somebody who spent 30 years of her life facing the camera — rising steadily from an “extra” to the “glamour queen” of the industry. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, insisted that she accept the award, earlier conferred on such legendary actors as Devika Rani and Kanan Devi. But Suchitra Sen preferred the enigma of invisibility over the most coveted of all Indian film awards.

Suchitra Sen was undeniably the most successful woman actor of Bengal. Between 1953 and 1978 she played the lead in more than 60 movies and etched an indelible mark as a powerful feminine persona. Her performances were a major departure from the conventional paradigm of femininity and became a commanding presence in the romantic melodramas of the 1950s and the 1960s.

In the most emblematic films of the genre Suchitra would be an epitome of ethical superiority, often sheltered in a mansion with French windows, billowing curtains, a grand piano and fancy tea-sets which would place her in a privileged space and earn her the sobriquet ‘Greta Garbo of the East’.

Gulzar made a brilliant use of her screen personality in Aandhi (1975), in which Suchitra Sen played a politician looking akin to Indira Gandhi. Off-screen too, her personality was in a class of its own. The spell she cast with her effusive charm and gorgeous screen presence lived on even 35 years after her retirement. The frequent visits of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the clinic where Suchitra Sen was treated in her last days only reflect her enduring charisma.

Humble beginning Accompanied by her wealthy husband Dibanath, Suchitra Sen started scouting the film studios for a role in around 1951. Her first film Sesh Kothay (1952), or ‘Where is the End?’, was never released. Her first release Saat Nambar Kayedi (1953) flopped miserably. She appeared as a background performer or an ‘extra’ in the film Atom Bomb directed by Taru Mukherjee. Shot around 1951, the film released in 1954. But by then Sare Chuattor (1953) had elevated her status to some extent. The arresting comedy with an enthralling storyline was a runaway success. This was the first film she partnered Uttam Kumar, Bengal’s greatest film icon. The lead actors were Tulsi Chakraborty and Molina Devi, with Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen playing lovers in a sub-plot.

Iconic pairs The game-changer, however, came soon after, in Agnipariksha (Trial by Fire, 1954), made by directors’ collective Agradoot. Agnipariksha compelled film-goers to notice the on-screen chemistry between good-looking actors Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar and was the duo’s first big hit.

Suchitra Sen’s impressive performance in Bengali melodramas attracted the attention of Bimal Roy in Mumbai. For Devdas (1955), he chose Suchitra Sen as Parvati or Paro opposite Dilip Kumar, the protagonist. Devdas won great accolades, but Suchitra Sen decided to return to Bengal.

Over the next 20 years the Uttam-Suchitra partnership attained legendary dimensions with a spate of films: Shapmochon (Reversing the Curse, 1955), Sagarika (1956), Harano Sur (The Lost Tune, 1956), Pothe Holo Deri (Delayed on the Way, 1956), Indrani (1958), Chaoa Paoa (Desire and Attainment, 1959) and Saptapadi (Ritual of Seven Steps, 1961). They worked together in many other films as well, Priyo Bandhabi (Lady Friend, 1975) being the last such occasion.

Intermittently she accepted Bombay assignments and acted opposite Dilip Kumar in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s directorial debut Musafir (1957) based on a story of Ritwik Ghatak; opposite Dev Anand in Bambai Ka Babu (1960), and Ashok Kumar and Dharmendra in Mamta (1966), Sanjeev Kumar in Aandhi (1974), but reportedly declined many.

The list of ‘reported refusals’, in fact, runs long in Suchitra Sen’s life. Raj Kapoor wanted to cast her in one of his films, she didn’t find it acceptable. Raj Kapoor rushed to Calcutta, yet she wouldn’t relent. Satyajit Ray wanted her for the lead in Bankim Chandra’s Devi Choudhurani , but she wouldn’t agree to the exclusivity clause on the contract. Ray abandoned the project.

Recluse since 1980 Uttam Kumar died in 1980. Shortly after his death Suchitra Sen started shunning public appearances. In the 1984 general elections, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi wanted Suchitra Sen to contest the South Calcutta parliamentary seat as a Congress candidate, which he himself had won in 1971. But Suchitra Sen preferred life beyond the public gaze and refused the offer.

Now that the condition for the offer of the Dadasaheb Phalke award is irrelevant, will she be considered for a posthumous endorsement of her enormous contributions?

(The writer is a commentator on Bengali film and theatre.)

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