KOLKATA:
Veteran actress Gita Sen
, who, apart from working in
husband Mrinal Sen
’s
movies
, had also featured in
Ritwick Ghatak
‘Nagarik’ and
Shyam Benegal’s ‘Arohan
’, passed away at her residence in Kolkata on Monday. She was 86 and is survived by her husband and son Kunal.
Benegal described Sen as a “rock” for Mrinal Sen and a “wonderful woman”. Just 10 days back, Benegal had lost Om Puri, who had also acted with Sen in his ‘Arohan’. “I had wanted her for ‘Arohan’ because I knew she was perfect for the part. It didn’t take long for me to convince her. She was absolutely God’s own. She was choosy since she wasn’t keen on making a career as a film actor. Rather, she wanted to be a homemaker.” Yet, she left a mark in films like ‘Akaler Sandhane’, ‘Mahaprithivi’, ‘Khandhar’ and ‘Calcutta 71’ and others.
Last year, her son had spoken about how she would make excuses to not do many films even when she got offers from the likes of Goutam Ghose and Aparna Sen.
Mainak Biswas, professor of Film Studies department in JU, places Sen in the league of actresses like Shobha Sen and Reba Roychowdhury. “Her training was in political theatre. She never tried to be glam actress, but brought about realism in acting through her body and face,” Biswas said.
Sen had been keeping unwell for sometime. “One day, she had just said “amar khub ghum pachhe”. Once she went to sleep, she slipped into coma. All kinds of tubes were fitted to her body. Separating her bed from that of Mrinal da’s was a table. I am worried about how Mrinal da will take this loss,” said Shreela Mazumdar, her co-star in ‘Ekdin Pratidin’.
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