Swatilekha Sengupta (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Chatterjee; 22 May 1950 – 16 June 2021) was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

actress. She had received the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor.

Career

Swatilekha started her career in theater in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

in the early 1970s, acting in productions under the direction of A.C. Banerjee. She also received guidance from B.V. Karanth,

Tapas Sen Tapas Sen ( 11 September, 1924 – 28 June, 2006) was a noted India, Indian Stage lighting, stage lighting designer, who was an important figure in 20th-century Indian theatre. He started working with Bengali theatre movement in Kolkata in the l ...

, and Khaled Chowdhury. Then she moved to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and joined the theater group

Nandikar Nandikar ( bn, নান্দীকার) is a theatre group in India. The group has its headquarters in Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, but works around the world. History Nandikar's story begins on 29 June 1960 at maternal uncle's house ...

in 1978. In

she worked under the direction of

Rudraprasad Sengupta Rudraprasad Sengupta (born 31 January 1935) is a Bengali Indian actor, director and cultural critic. Biography Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, the son of Anant Sengupta and Usha Prabha Sengupta. He studied at the Scottish ...

, whom she went on to marry. She was also the lead female protagonist in '' Ghare Baire'', a 1985 film by

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

, against

Victor Banerjee Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films. He has worked for directors such as Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shya ...

and

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...

. This film was based upon a novel of the same name '' Ghare Baire'' written by the famous Bengali writer

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. She has also acted in films like ''

Chauranga ''Chauranga'' is a 2016 Hindi film. It is the debut feature film of Indian writer-director Bikas Ranjan Mishra, produced by Onir and Sanjay Suri. The film was developed at the Screenwriters' Lab organized by National Film Development Corporati ...

'',''

Bela Seshe ''Bela Seshe'' (; also written as ''Belaseshe: In The Autumn of my Life'') is an Indian Bengali-language family drama film directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee and presented by Atanu Raychaudhuri. It is produced by Windows and di ...

'', Dharmajuddha and Bela Shuru.

Death

Sengupta died on 16 June 2021 from complications arising from kidney ailments. She was 71 at the time of her death. Her last work was Belashuru.

Filmography

Awards

*2011 –

for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor. *

West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as WBFJA Awards, is given by The West Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The association was founded in 2013 in Kolkata. The award show is called ''Cinemar Somaborton'' (). ...

. *

Paschim Banga Natya Akademi Paschim Banga Natya Akademi is a learned society for drama and theatre in West Bengal, India. Established on 26 September 1987, it is a wing of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal. The aim of this socie ...

award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sengupta, Swatilekha 1950 births 2021 deaths Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Bengali theatre personalities Indian stage actresses Actresses from Allahabad