Sen’s Finest

Devdas (1955)
This Bimal Roy film was Sen’s breakthrough into Hindi cinema. She shared screenspace with Bollywood superstars, Dilip Kumar and Vyjanthimala, and yet held her own. Her interpretation of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s iconic heroine, Paro, was all about restraint.

Indrani (1958)
The superhit pair, Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar, starred in more than a dozen films and were considered the first couple of the Bengali film industry. Unlike other heroines of Uttam Kumar’s films, Sen demanded and got equal billing and screen time.

Aandhi (1975)
For this Gulzar classic, Sen took special classes to improve her Hindi diction and insisted on dubbing for herself. As a weary, middle-aged politician who is taking stock of her life, Sen embodied dignity and power. Apparently, Sanjeev Kumar, who is widely regarded to be one of the most gifted actors to have graced Indian cinema, was in awe of Sen. Though he shone on his role of a mellow, pragmatic man who loses his family to his wife’s obsession, Aandhi will always be remembered as a Suchitra Sen film.

Saat Paakhe Badha (1963)
Her role — as a disgruntled and conflicted woman caught between an upright, unrelenting husband and an overbearing mother — won her a best actress award in the Moscow film festival in 1963. She was the first Indian actress to get an international acting award.

Mamta (1966)
Asit Sen’s Hindi film was a remake of the Bengali film Uttar Phalguni. Armed with the role of a lifetime, Sen headed the ensemble cast of the film which also starred Ashok Kumar and a young Dharmendra. In a double role as Panna Bai, the courtesan with a heart of gold, and Suparna, her urban, educated daughter, Sen overshadowed both the leading men. It was not so much about histrionics as her luminous screen presence. However, many feel that her performance in the Bengali original was more nuanced. Decades after, Bollywood would keep recycling Mamta into stories about ever-sacrificing women.

Bambaii Ka Babu (1960)
Sen co-starred with the then reigning Bollywood heartthrob, Dev Anand. This rarely talked about Dev Khosla classic, dealt with the taboo topic of incest. It had Sen playing Anand’s long-lost sister,towards whom he develops romantic feelings.

Text by Premankur Biswas

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