How Suchitra Sen transitioned from Roma to Gulzar's 'Sir'

"Suchitra Sen was an era," writes journalist Ranjan Bandopadhyay in Suchitra Sen: Ebong Ananya. It is a term that has never been used to define any film persona in the country, not even Uttam Kumar or Amitabh Bachchan. Yet, Suchitra Sen never won the National Award.

Suchitra was the most charismatic actress Bengali cinema has ever seen. Her ethereal beauty, coupled with her phenomenal acting and immense box-office popularity, particularly her on-screen pairing with the late Uttam Kumar, gave her legendary cult status in Bengal. She created a new image in Bengali cinema, one that evolved over time.

She made her debut in the unreleased Shesh Kothai in 1952. The following year saw her act opposite Uttam Kumar for the first time, in Saare Chuattar.

The film, an effervescent comedy, was also the breakthrough film of director Nirmal Dey. It was a reasonable hit at the box office. However, it is remembered more for launching the pair of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. They went on to become icons of Bengali romantic melodrama for more than 20 years, creating a distinct genre unto themselves. Their films were famous for the soft focus close-ups of the stars, particularly Sen, and lavishly mounted scenes of romance against windswept expanses and richly decorated interiors with fluttering curtains and such mnemonic objects as bunches of tuberoses, etc.

Transition

How did Roma become Suchitra Sen? She was encouraged by her husband Dibanath to step into films. The story goes that she was initially offered a singing assignment at a recording studio in Park Street. She was introduced as Roma Sen. But that assignment was shelved in favour of the female lead in a film to be directed by Sukumar Dasgupta, a noted filmmaker of the time. Dasgupta put Sen through a screen test. The film was Saat Number Koyedi. One of his assistants, Nitish Roy (not to be confused with the Mumbai-based production designer Nitish Roy), rechristened this new actress Suchitra.

In 1952, she signed three more films. One was Kajori, directed by Niren Lahiri; then there was Saare Chuattar, directed by Nirmal Dey; and then Bhagawan Sri Sri Krishna Chaitanya, directed by Debaki Bose in which Basanta Choudhury made his debut in the title role. Her hero in Saat Number Koyedi was Samar Roy, while in Saare Chuattar it was Uttam Kumar.

Madam

The number of people in the industry who could call her Roma could be counted on one's fingers. Uttam Kumar was one of them. Among the few others were producer and distributor Asit Choudhury, and Anil Bandopadhyay, the DCP at the time.

These three friends were influential in Mrs Sen's life and career. Till date, everyone in the Bengali film industry refers to her either as "madam" or "Mrs Sen". From the outset, she had a reserve about her that wrapped her like an aura, automatically vesting her with a dignified distance not usually seen or recognised in film stars those days, particularly in the women.

There was one group that addressed her as "sir". Filmmaker Gulzar, who directed Suchitra Sen in Aandhi, leads that group. He continued to address her as "sir" in a military tone of voice until her last days; this had remained a mutual joke between them since the making of Aandhi.

"Though I was much junior to her in experience and in age when she was working in Aandhi, she insisted on addressing me as 'sir'. We went on location with Raakhee and with Meghana, who was then a toddler. She became friends with Raakhee but continued to call me 'sir'. Then, one day, I warned her that if she did not stop calling me 'sir', my entire unit would address her not as 'madam' but as 'sir'. This form of address sustained," reminisces Gulzar.

(Reprinted from publisher's permission.)