Ray’s wife breaks silence on the other woman

While Madhabi is not named, it is evident who Bijoya is talking about. She says the lady was beautiful and Ray ‘‘a human being with follies…He was no God’’. The relationship, Bijoya writes, ‘‘pained me so much that I was on the brink of madness’’.

While Madhabi, who acted in several of Ray’s films, herself admitted the relationship in a signed article in a Kolkata vernacular a couple of years ago, Bijoya hasn’t talked about it till now. The revelation comes in the latest part of her autobiography, Amaader Katha (Our Story).

‘‘The years 1965 and 1966 were nightmares to me,’’ Bijoya writes. ‘‘… Like a man seduced, he got entangled with the lady. I caught him. I became so angry and upset that I became mad. Though the woman was very beautiful and intelligent, she was no match for Manik (Ray’s nickname).’’Bijoya says she threatened Ray with divorce. ‘‘When I told him that I wanted to separate, he became dumbfounded. He dropped on to the floor, clinging my waist, and said: ‘Don’t punish me so hard. I cannot think of anybody else as my wife’.’’

‘‘So,’’ asked Bijoya, ‘‘why this big betrayal?’’

Ray replied: ‘‘Give me some time. Things will be alright.’’ Things apparently were. According to Bijoya, Ray apologised to her repeatedly and said he would never ‘‘commit such mistakes in the future’’. She writes about Ray telling her: ‘‘You may consider this a colossal blunder on my part… I had a crush on her and I could not control myself. I give you word that I will never put you through this kind of suffering again. I also went through a great trauma when I saw your condition. I too suffered because I Iied to you. Please forgive me.’’

Bijoya writes that Ray stuck to his promise and ‘‘never looked at another woman’’.

Talking about her trauma during this period, Bijoya says she became very sick and had to be admitted to a private clinic for treatment.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Madhabi said she had not read what Bijoya had written. ‘‘Whatever happened was my personal affair and I do not want to reveal my personal life to anybody,’’ she fumed. Asked about her article admitting the affair, Madhabi said: ‘‘I have forgotten what I had written before.’’