Renowned Bengali theatre and film personality Swatilekha Sengupta died on Wednesday at the age of 71. She was suffering from kidney ailment. She was admitted to a hospital for the last 21 days. Her condition further deteriorated and she breathed her last on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Times of India.
Actress Swatilekha Sengupta passed away today afternoon.
Started her career in theatre in early 70s and subsequently worked as the female lead in Satyajit Ray’s Ghare Baire (1985).
City Of Joy, Chauranga, Belasheshe and Borof are her other notable works.
RIP 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ZMAVzydFsK
— CinemaRare (@CinemaRareIN) June 16, 2021
Swatilekha Sengupta’s daughter Sohini, who is also a revered theatre artiste, told the Times of India that her mother’s work would be remembered for years to come. “My mom was a great human being and artist. Her work will be remembered. She was a brilliant student. She was a gold medalist. She helped a lot of people,” Sohini said.
She began her career in theatre in Allahabad in early 1970s, acting in productions under the direction of AC Banerjee. She later moved to Kolkata and joined the theatre group Nandikar in 1978, where she worked under the direction of Rudraprasad Sengupta, whom she later married.
Besides writing and acting in plays, Sengupta also worked in films, most notably in Satyajit Ray’s Ghare Baire in 1985, where she was seen alongside Victor Banerjee and Soumitra Chatterjee. This film was based upon a Rabindranath Tagore’s novel of the same name. After 31 long years, he returned to the screen in Bela Sheshe (2015), Barof (2019) and Bela Shuru and Dharmajuddha, both set to release later in the year.
She was honoured with Paschim Banga Natya Akademi award and 2011 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre.
