TWILIGHT ZONE

VETERAN SWATILEKHA SENGUPTA WILL SOON BE SEEN IN BELA SHURU. RAGHUVENDRA SINGH CHATS WITH THE TIMELESS ACTOR

- RAGHUVENDRA SINGH

Satyajit Ray aficionados would remember Swatilekha Sengupta as the comely wife caught in a love triangle between her rich husband (Victor Banerjee) and his freedom-fighter friend Soumitra Chatterjee in Ghare Baire (1985). The film showed her caught in a whirlwind of emotions as she had to choose between her sedate husband and the charismatic admirer. It was a sensitive performance and won her admiration on the festival circuit. Her lip-lock with Soumitra in the film did ruffle a few feathers. Negative reviews of her performance at home affected her strongly and she didn’t sign a film for close to 30 years after that. She was recently seen in Bela Seshe (2015, The End) directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. In this she was reunited with Soumitra. The 70-year-old actor, who is known more for her plays than films, suffered a heart attack some time ago. The actrress is better now. And she's excited about her upcoming movie Bela Shuru (The Beginning). Starring her and Soumitra Chatterjee once again, the film is a sort of spiritual successor to the team’s earlier film. Excerpts from an interview with Swatilekha – a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner, who has lost none of her pizzazz to the passage of time.

A GIRL FROM ALLAHABAD WOULD’VE TRAVELLED TO MUMBAI AND NOT KOLKATA TO BE AN ACTRESS. WHAT MADE YOU DO THE CONTRARY?