Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 9, 2020)

I was just a schoolgirl when I saw Bimal Roy’s 1955 tragic love story, Devdas, for the first time on Doordarshan. And like so many others, was mesmerised by his Parvati. Even in black and white, Suchitra Sen’s luminous beauty shone through, lighting up the frame when Dilip Kumar as Devdas, livid at being rejected by his Paro for a letter he’s long since regretted writing, says through gritted teeth, “Yeh roop tumhara... itna roop achcha nahin hai.” Then, to put a chand-like daag on her chiselled features to dent her haughty pride, he lashes out with his stick, “Aao tumhare chehre pe aisa hi daag bana de.” As it catches her on the forehead, spilling blood, his face reflects not just his anger, but also his pain and torment.

This scene has stayed with me for decades and it didn’t come as a surprise to learn that Tollygunge’s Mrs Sen had landed the role on the rebound, after Meena Kumari had reluctantly turned it down. She gave her nod because it was the first Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay story offered to her and for its director. It is said that when they were shooting in Mumbai, visitors crowded into Mohan Studio to catch a glimpse of the famous beauty and Bengal’s rising star. No one went away disappointed even though the lady herself stayed aloof and untouched by the adoration.

On Suchitra Sen’s 89th birth anniversary (she entered the world on April 6, 1931), I reached out to Dharmendra, who is at his farm, following the Coronavirus outbreak. The duo had worked together in Asit Sen’s 1966 film Mamta. A Hindi remake of his 1963 Bengali film, Uttar Falguni, it featured her in a double role, as the beautiful Devyani who, after a hellish marriage, becomes the dancing girl Panna Bai, and her lookalike daughter Suparna, whom she is ready to protect with her life. Ashok Kumar played Monish Rai, the man the mother has always loved even after she lost him, while Dharamji was cast as the barrister, Indraneel, who woos the daughter.

“Suchitra was a picture of beauty and after seeing her in Devdas, I had been dreaming of working with her. It is said that when you want something dil se, the universe conspires to give it to you,” Dharamji informs over the wire, and one can almost picture him smile.

They shot the film in New Theatres, a Kolkata studio, and in Darjeeling. Dharamji shares that when they were in the hill station, after ‘pack-up’ he would sometimes go for a drive with his leading lady and her sister. “In the darkness, I couldn’t see the ravines flanking the narrow mountain roads on either side. But the next morning, she would point them out to me, saying, ‘Look Dharam, you were zooming down this road like a racing car driver last night,’ and we would laugh. We had some good times together on that film. Mamta, for all its intensity on screen, was so much fun, like a picnic,” he laughs, recalling that his heroine had always told him that she loved his smile.

Dharamji’s recollections of the desi Garbo are very different from public perception of Suchitra Sen, as a lady who always stood apart in the studios, and after she stepped out of the spotlight, was consciously never seen in public again. “She was a lovely lady and a very mature actress,” he avers.

Prod him on his favourite scene and he zeroes in on the one where Ashok Kumar, from afar, points him out to the older Suchitra as the man he has picked for her daughter. “It was a romantic moment between the younger couple where we are unaware of being watched. However, I knew, I had to somehow convey to the mother that I am in love with Suparna. Suchitra was wearing a sari, the blouse cut low at the back, and as the camera rolled, I bent down and spontaneously dropped a kiss on her back. It wasn’t in the script, but when we saw the shot later, everyone agreed that my unrehearsed gesture added a lot to the scene and it was retained,” Dharmendra reminisces, adding that he had hoped to do many more films with one of his favourite heroines, but she preferred to anchor herself to Bengali cinema and the only other Hindi film she did was Gulzar’s Aandhi in 1975 with Sanjeev Kumar.

However, Dharmendra stayed in touch and they often spoke on the phone. And once, when he was in the City of Joy for the opening of a lab, he dropped by her residence. “Hema (Malini) was with me on the occasion and it was wonderful meeting her again. For me, Kolkata will always be associated with Rabindranath Tagore… and Suchitra Sen,” he says emotionally, admitting that they had lost touch in the last few years of her life. “I had heard that she wasn’t keeping well and I wondered about her, wishing I could go visit. But, by then, she wasn’t keen on having visitors and I respected her need for privacy. When I learnt that she was gone, I was shattered. It was like I had lost a family member.”

For me, Dharamji is as much a talented actor as he is a brilliant poet. Every time we chat, he leaves me with one of his couplets. Does he have a piece of poetry he’d like to dedicate to her on her birth anniversary, I wonder. Pat comes the reply, “Padte hi unpar, Jhuk jaati thi meri nazar, Iss darr se ki nazar na lag jaaye unhe meri nazar se…”

Vidya Balan on why she opted out of the Meena Kumari biopic and the other interesting ones that she let go of
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; November 8, 2017)

The biopic on Meena Kumari had gone from Kangana Ranaut’s kitty to Vidya Balan’s. Initially, when Tigmanshu Dhulia had announced that he was casting Kangana to play the late actress in his film, the Pakeezah heroine’s family members issued a press statement explaining why she was not the right choice.

Though Vidya was keen to do it, she recently opted out of the same. Vidya says, “No, I’m not doing the Meena Kumari-biopic anymore. It didn’t quite work out. I love Meena Kumari. If I had a girl crush on somebody, it would be her. If she was alive, I’d probably land up to see her all the time. I am that fascinated by her. I always wanted to play her.”

What went wrong, we ask. She reasons, “The script has to do justice. It can’t just be a sensational account of her life, even if she is not around. It has to present different episodes of her life and not just the ones that will grab eyeballs. So, I decided not to do it.”

She further explains, “I did The Dirty Picture, there was sensationalism in that but that was Silk. But for everything, you can’t just focus on the sensational bits of a person’s life. I am happy to do the controversial bits as long as it’s a well rounded perspective.

Also, biopics are very sensitive and they need to be done for the right reasons. You can’t make a biopic on Meena Kumari just because you feel sab dekhenge. Even if the person is not around, I have too much respect for her as an artiste, to just present a one-sided story of hers.” Vidya has a parametre for picking biopics. She smiles, “I only want to play real characters and do biopics of people who I love or connect with.” But there’s ‘nothing on the anvil’ now, she claims. “Right now, I haven’t been offered any more biopics.”

NOT THE ONLY ONE!

INDIRA GANDHI
Director Manish Gupta had offered Vidya the Indira Gandhi-biopic and she absolutely loved the script. But then, destiny had other plans. She reveals, “I am dying to do the Indira Gandhi-biopic. But there have been issues with the rights and the permission to making the film. Otherwise, there’s no point making it.”

M S SUBBULAKSHMI
Vidya was in talks for a movie on the life of late Bharat Ratna singer MS Subbulakshmi, which couldn’t take off because of legal trouble. She says, “I was doing a film on her life with Rajeev Menon, but that also fell through for some legal issues. That’s the problem. If I am going to put efforts into a biopic, unless the makers have the necessary clearances, I just don’t want to touch it. It’s a waste of effort and hard work.”

KAMALA DAS
This was another film that was announced and then, there were reports of a fallout between her and the makers. She asserts, “Kamala Das was one film I personally opted out of. There were things that happened. But let bygones be bygones.”

SUCHITRA SEN
While most of the biopics offered to her were either in Hindi or a bilingual (the Kamala Das biopic), Vidya was also approached for Suchitra Sen’s biopic to be made in Bengali. Vidya is comfortable with the language but had her reservations about the role. “I was offered the Suchitra Sen biopic but I didn’t take it up. I thought with Raima (Sen) around, it would be blasphemous for me to do it because no one looks more like Suchitra Sen or knows her better than Raima. Also, Raima is a friend — even though we have lost touch, she’s someone I’m extremely fond of. That’s why I said no to that,” Vidya reasons.

And why Vidya briefly was associated with the biopic on the Sen matriarch
Subhash K Jha (DNA; June 14, 2015)

Raima Sen is all set to play her grandmother Suchitra Sen in Bengali director Abhijit Choudhury’s Nayika. Jisshu Sengupta, who played Deepika Padukone’s best friend in Piku will play Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar and the film will attempt to explore the relationship between the charismatic pair that worked together in 30-odd films.

Vidya Balan recently went on record that she was approached for the project and declined it saying Raima would be the right choice to play Suchitra, physically and emotionally.

Says Raima, “The project has been in the pipeline for two years. I was the original choice because of my obvious connect to the character. But the dates kept getting postponed. Then I was asked in January to shoot for it. I couldn’t shoot for it at that time as my dates were blocked for Ishq Kabhi Kariyo Na with Prateik. Meanwhile, I heard Vidya was doing it and then I heard she wasn’t.”

Raima has returned to the project and shooting is expected to commence soon.

Playing Uttam
Jisshu is excited about playing Bengal’s biggest star. He adds, “No one knows the true nature of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s friendship. They were not just terrific co-stars they were also very close friends. Uttam Kumar was the only person from the film industry who could call her by her real name, Roma. Theirs was a very complex, very deep bonding. To play Uttam Kumar is a big honour for me.”

Jisshu’s mother-in-law actress Anjana Bhowmick has worked with Uttam Kumar. Jisshu intends to take tips from her on how to play the matinee idol. He says, “I will consult my mother-in-law on the kind of clothes he wore, the way he spoke, etc. But I won’t imitate him. No way! He has a very strong screen image. I’d look caricatural trying to behave like him. My director and have decided that I won’t imitate him and will try to reach his soul, and not his physicality.”

The actress also explains why she refused to be part of Suchitra Sen biopic
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; June 11, 2015)


She avers, “I don’t know where this Benazir Bhutto biopic story has come from. I was not even offered the film. How would I even refuse something I have not been offered?” What about Suchitra Sen? She confirms, “I was approached for the biopic, but I chose not to do it.” She feels that if the film was being made in Bengali, it should have cast one of her grand daughters and she might have said yes to the project had it been made as a Hindi film. “It was a Bengali film. At least, if it was a Hindi film, it was still okay that I looked completely different from her. But for a Bengali film, I just thought when there is a Raima Sen, it didn’t make any sense for me to do it. Though I would have loved to play her and the script was very good, Raima looks so much like her grandmom Suchitra Sen and I thought it will look more credible,” she explained.

She does really want to play someone on screen, though. “Indira Gandhi. I just find her to be so charismatic, powerful and yet so mysterious. You don’t know about the person Indira Gandhi. So it would be a great biopic to star in.”

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 31, 2015)

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 3, 2014)

Rachana Dubey (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 6, 2014)

Come August, and Raima Sen will step into her grandmother Suchitra Sen’s shoes for a biopic on the legendary Bengali actress who passed away on January 17 at the age of 82.

The film which is likely to be made in Hindi and Bengali, will recreate the diva’s heydays in Tollywood and her eventual withdrawal from the public eye.

Director Abhijit Chaudhuri has cast Jishu Sengupta as yesteryear’s Bengali superstar and Suchitra’s frequent collaborator, Uttam Kumar in the film tentatively titled Nayika. The biopic has been in the pipeline for over a year, and Madam Sen was briefed about the project before her death.

Raima, who is currently in Bankura campaigning for her mother, actress Moon Moon Sen, says, “The film has many flashbacks. I’m terrified at the thought of playing my dida (grandmother) on screen because I will have to enact iconic scenes from some of her earliest and most popular films. After the elections are over, I have to watch these films so I don’t go wrong or her fans will never forgive me.”

She adds that they are yet to take a call on whether the film will be a bilingual or be dubbed. “Abhijit has spoken to me but we’re yet to arrive at a decision because I just haven’t had the time to mull on it. I would like as many people as possible to watch this film but it should also work logistically. We can always release it with subtitles,” says the actress.

Satadru Ojha (BOMBAY TIMES; January 21, 2014)

When did you last speak to your grandmother?
Even the evening before she passed away (on January 17), I remember amma was completely in her senses. She was so aware of everything around her. And trust me, we never saw this coming... (pauses) Even if you know someone is ill, you’re never prepared for death — at least, we weren’t. And it happened so fast, it hasn’t sunk in yet. But then, amma was a fighter and she fought till the end.
 
Did she ever say she was in pain?
No. She never complained. Even the doctors could see that. ‘Your grandmother is so sophisticated. She’s so reserved and never says if she’s feeling ill,’ they’d tell me. She was always so strong, so independent.
 
What are your earliest memories of your amma? Was she a strict grandmother?
Oh no, she was never strict with us (Raima and sister Riya) at all! In fact, being with amma was a treat. She would take us out shopping, to AC Market and Vardaan Market. At that time, she was staying in another house and we would spend a lot of time with her over lunch and dinner. Then we moved in together here (the Sens’ current Ballygunge Circular Road address) and almost half our days would be spent with her, chatting, sharing our thoughts. It was a normal grandmother-granddaughter relationship. For us, she was always amma, never Suchitra Sen.

When we went out, people would flock to her, asking her for autographs. But we were really small and it did not bother us. Also, mummy (Moon Moon Sen) was already in films and we were used to public attention. In fact, in school we were always known as Moon Moon Sen’s daughters rather than Suchitra Sen’s granddaughters. When mum went to pick us up from school, people would rush to see her. We were exposed to her fame first, but as we grew up, we understood how deeply people adored and loved amma.
 
The Sen surname is very special to Bengalis. When did the significance of that — the expectations, adulation, frenzy — finally sink in?
That actually happened later, only when I joined the industry here. It was after I had done at least threefour films, probably after Chokher Bali. Actually, dad had brought us up very normally. When we travelled with him to Jaipur for weddings, Maharani Gayatri Devi (her great-aunt) and so many other dignitaries would be present. But for us, it was all so normal. Initially, when people would compare me to my grandmother, I would wonder why they were doing this. After all, I had done only one or two films then. I couldn’t be her, no one could be her. It was only much later — not till five-seven years back — that I realised this surname carries so much of weight everywhere, especially in Bengal.
 
How interested was amma in your career? Did she advise you on your film choices?
I would always come and tell her about my movies. But she’d watched only two of my films. One day, she was flipping channels when she caught Anuranan. And she loved it so much that she asked me to get her more of my films. I got her many DVDs but she only managed to watch Noukadubi. I remember calling up Tony (Anuranan director Aniruddha Roychowdhury) and telling him how much amma had liked the film. But yes, she was quite involved in my other films. Before I started shooting for Chokher Bali, she read out the whole novel to me. Rituparno Ghosh would hand me stills from the shoot and ask me to show them to amma. She would go through them and she got to know about Rituparno through me. In that phase of my career, when I was doing films like Chokher Bali, Khela, Anuranan, she was very involved. She never gave me career advice as such, it was more like, “Kaaje mon diyo”. She worshipped her work and wanted us to do the same.
 
Did the two of you ever talk about how much you resembled her?
Of course, we did! In fact, I didn’t ever bring it up, but she must have heard it a million times from friends and relatives. She was always very proud of Riya and me… (pauses) And today she’s not there anymore! Mummy would go to her every morning after waking up, while we had our own pace. Even if we didn’t meet her for a few days, she would understand and tell mummy, “Kaaje byasto achhe”. She was a very content person, happy with whatever she had. And I regret it so much now, that I didn’t spend more time with her. I grew closer to her much later, over the past few years, when I realised we had so much in common. It’s an understanding that came very late to me.
 
How do you want her fans and admirers to remember her?
Just remember her in the way she would want to be remembered. She’s done so much, there’s so much to look back on. So why dwell on things like how she looked and how her voice sounded? They have been showing an MMS of her in the media, in which she’s old. But trust me, people don’t like such rubbish and they think it is in very bad taste. They loved her and respected her for her films and don’t want to know about what she ate or how she lived her life. When we were on our way to the funeral, I saw how people were offering pranam and wreaths. I think if you respect someone, you also respect her wishes.

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 9, 2014)

Veteran Bengali actress Suchitra Sen continues to be seriously ill. Subrata Maitra, who is attending to her along with a team of chest physicians and cardiologists at Belle Vue Clinic in Kolkata, told Mirror on Wednesday, “Suchitraji is conscious but bedridden. She is on a continuous supply of oxygen supplemented by non-invasive ventilation. She had a high rate of heart beat earlier but that is now under control.”

Sen, whose condition has been delicate since December 28, is still kept under observation in an Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU). Doctors have ruled out the possibility of discharging her any time soon.

The 82-year-old actress was undergoing treatment for a chest infection at a nursing home since December 23 and was taken to the Critical Care Unit (CCU) after her condition worsened on the night of December 28.

The most popular actress in West Bengal till date and one of the finest of her time, whose brush with Bollywood led to classics like Devdas, Bombai Ka Babu, Mamta and Aandhi (right), turned a recluse after she quit acting in 1978. Dubbed as the Greta Garbo of India, she has not attended any social gathering in the past 35 years. She is so fiercely protective about her privacy that she even refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2005 which required her to be present at the felicitation ceremony in New Delhi.

The only few people who have access to her are daughter Moon Moon Sen, granddaughters Raima and Riya and some spiritual gurus. “She guards her privacy not because of her health but simply because she is into spiritualism,” Maitra revealed.

However, in a rare exception, Sen met the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, at the nursing home on Sunday. “The CM met Suchitraji and also had tea here. She was in the nursing home for around 25 minutes,” Maitra said.

When contacted, an anxious Moon Moon Sen said: “I can’t talk to you at length right now. I am extremely worried about my mother’s health. Riya and Raima and I are taking turns to be by her side 24x7. We want her to recover soon.”