| 4 | | Actress. Bengali star of 60s socials best known as romantic lead opposite Uttam Kumar (with whom she apparently featured in 33 films). Spent some of her childhood in Rangoon; introduced into films by veteran Bengali actress Chandrabati Devi. Début in Nirmal Dey’s Basu Parivar, after which she married and retired from films for some years. Incarnated the ‘heroine’ of reformist middle-class pulp fictions. Adhered more to melodramatic orthodoxy than her chief rival, Suchitra Sen, evoking e.g. Jamuna’s acting in P.C. Barua productions and generating a sense of nostalgia for pre-Independence middle-class Bengali melodrama, thus providing a kind of cultural legitimation to the weepies of the Agradoot/Agragami/Yatrik units and film- makers like Piyush Bose. Known outside Bengal for her extraordinary performance as the heroine in Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara and Komal Gandhar. These, and Ajoy Kar’s Suno Baro Nari, were rare instances in which she stepped out of her star image. Turned producer with the commercial flop Uttar Meleni. |
| | 4 | Actress. Bengali star of 60s socials best known as romantic lead opposite [[Uttam Kumar]] (with whom she apparently featured in 33 films). Spent some of her childhood in Rangoon; introduced into films by veteran Bengali actress Chandrabati Devi. Début in [[Nirmal Dey]]’s [[Basu Parivar]], after which she married and retired from films for some years. Incarnated the ‘heroine’ of reformist middle-class pulp fictions. Adhered more to melodramatic orthodoxy than her chief rival, [[Suchitra Sen]], evoking e.g. Jamuna’s acting in [[P.C. Barua]] productions and generating a sense of nostalgia for pre-Independence middle-class Bengali melodrama, thus providing a kind of cultural legitimation to the weepies of the [[Agradoot]]/Agragami/[[Yatrik]] units and film- makers like Piyush Bose. Known outside Bengal for her extraordinary performance as the heroine in [[Ghatak]]’s [[Meghe Dhaka Tara]] and [[Komal Gandhar]]. These, and [[Ajoy Kar]]’s Suno Baro Nari, were rare instances in which she stepped out of her star image. Turned producer with the commercial flop Uttar Meleni. |