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Suchitra Sen, you never knew how much we loved you!

Fakhruddin Ahmed
THE passing of the queen of Bengali cinema, Suchitra Sen, has touched a chord, not only among Bengalis who are children of the 1950s, but also among the younger and older generations. In death, Suchitra Sen has become more of an iconic figure than she was in life.
The first superstars of the Bengali cinema were singer-actress Kanan Devi, and Promothesh Barua, who acted together in the 1942 hit, Shesh Uttar.
Kanan and Barua were eclipsed by the meteoric appearance of Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar in 1952. The two defined Bengali cinema for the next twenty four years, and appeared as a romantic pair in 30 movies. The chemistry between the two -their passion, complexity and grace - was irresistible from the beginning. The carefully crafted scripts were brilliant, and the lyrics and the shut of their songs, an integral part of any Suchitra-Uttam movie, were exquisite.
The pair's rise coincided with our bildungs-roman, or coming of age. Bengali movies without Suchitra-Uttam lacked luster, and box office appeal. Entrepreneurs cashed in on their appeal. Suchitra Hair Salons popped up everywhere, with the promise: “Ekhane Uttam Bhabe Chui Kata Hoi!" We laughed, cried, loved and sang with them in Agniparikkha (1954), Shapmochon (1955), Shobar Uparey (1955), Shagorika (1956), Shilpi (1956);
Harano Shur (1957), Pothe Holo Deri (1957), Rajlakshmi O Srikanto (1958), and Saptapadi (1961), to name a few.
Suchitra-Uttam movies
were the rage of our time. They were our first introduction to love, jealousy, misunderstanding and reconciliation. Suchitra embodied the essence of Bengali womanhood - petite and pretty, vulnerable and romantic, feisty and resilient. Most of the Bengali men and boys in the 1950s and 1960s fell in love with Suchitra Sen.
Some of Suchitra's most acclaimed Bengali movies were not made with Uttam - Deep Jwele Jai (Ajit and Anil Chatterjeel959), Hospital (with Ashok Kumar, 1960), and Saath Pake Badha (with Soumitra, 1963). Suchitra also acted in seven Hindi films including Devdas (with Dilip Kumar, 1955), Bombai Ka Babu (with Dev Anand, 1960), Mamta (with Dharmendra, 1966) and Aandhi (with Sanjeev Kumar, 1975).
Inarticulacy in Hindi somewhat hampered Suchitra's performance in Hindi films. One of Lata Mangeshkar's favourite songs sung by her is picturised on Suchitra Sen in the movie, Mamta --“Rahein Na Rahein Hum, Maheka Karenge." My favourite Suchitra-Lata Hindi song is in the 1957 movie, Champakali, under Henmata Mukherjee's music direction and shur: "Chhup Gaya Koi Re,
Duur Se Pukar Ke."
Although their voices did not quite match, Sandhya Mukherjee was Suchitra's singing voice. (Sandhya's voice was deep, while Suchitra's enchanting voice had a distinctively Pabna-accent, according to West Bengalis!) My favourite Suchitra-Sandhya songs are from Shagorika. All the songs are loaded with delectable lyrics (by Gouriprasanna Majumdar; shur by Robin Chatterjee), which Sandhya delivered flawlessly with the right dose of emotion (“Aei To Aamar Prothom Phaguno Bela," “Tabo Bijoy Mukut," “Aei Modhu Raat," “Ankhi Jane Phool Keno Phutego.") A friend of mine was so smitten by Shagorika that he decided to become a physician! (Suchitra and Uttam were medical students in the movie.)
After Suchitra's passing, there is an ongoing discussion about the best Bengali song in the movies. Many fans chose “Aei Poth Jodi Na Sesh Hoi" (Hemanta-Sandhya, in Saptapadi). But there are so many more contenders: "Tumi Je Aamar" (Geeta Dutt, in Harano Shur), "Aei Sundaro Swarnali Sandhya" (Geeta Dutt, in Hospital), "Kichokhon Aro Nahoy Rahete Kache" (Sandhya in Pothey Holo Deri), “Ke TUmi Amare Dako" (Sandhya in Agni Parikkha) etc. My personal favourite is Shyamal Mitra's “Shat Shagor Aar Tero Nodir Paare" from Shagorika. I don't think there has been a greater hit than that one. But, let the debate continue.
If she were allowed one mulligan, I am sure Suchitra Sen would take back her decision not to agree to a three months' exclusive contract with Satayjit Ray to make the movie Devi Chaudhurani in the 1960s. Suchitra's rationale was that she could not
say "no” to the directors who had patronised her during her early years in the movie industry, even for three months. Sadly, I don't think any of the other directors would have objected. Suchitra was feisty and strong-willed. In the 1960s, no Indian actress would have had the guts to say "no” to a request from Raj Kapoor to act in one of his films. Suchitra did just that.
Like Greta Garbo, Suchitra Sen decided to become a recluse after retiring from acting in 1978. Let us not judge her motivation. The consequence of her decision is that we will always remember Suchitra as young and beautiful.
Farewell Suchitra Sen; our one and only heroine! Thanks for all that you have done for Bengalis everywhere. We are all sooo proud of you! You made us proud to be Bengalis! May your soul rest in peace.
Borrowing a line from To Kill a Mockingbird, and using it in a completely different context, I should like to ask my fellow Bengalis: "Please stand, Suchitra Sen has passed!"
The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.