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 ...

'' 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 ...

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, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognit ...

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 admin ...

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 Indian stage lighting designer, who was an important figure in 20th-century Indian theatre. He started working with Bengali theatre movement in Kolkata in the late 1940s, along wit ...

, and Khaled Chowdhury. Then she moved to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and joined the theater group Nandikar in 1978. In Nandikar she worked under the direction of Rudraprasad Sengupta, 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 o ...

, 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, Shy ...

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'', 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. * Paschim Banga Natya Akademi 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