Tirthankar Mitra
A slip of a girl when Aparna Dasgupta made her debut as a tomboy Mrinmoyee in Satyajit Ray’s Samapti in 1961 , the final part of Teen Konya, few had doubts that she will go far. But perhaps none had foreseen that she would carve out her niche in Bengali films not only as an actor and director but emerge as one of the voices of conscience in West Bengal.
Taking a tumultuous personal life in her stride, Aparna Sen lives her every breath fully. No half measures for this woman of substance on the screen and off of it. Never stumbling while stepping into the world of English and Hindi films, Aparna Sen did not portray the typical girl next door image. Nor was she the first choice for the archetypal Bengali belle. It is not that Sen had not put up commendable performances in these roles. But they were not quite her cup of tea.
If performances in Teen Konya, Aranyer Din Ratri and Jana Aranya directed by Ray she set a benchmark for students of acting schools, Aparna set the critics in a tizzy in the role of an aging widow savouring some of the joys of life from her young daughter -in-law in Paromitar Ek Din. It was all the more difficult for her as she was directing herself.
Her debut was followed by a role in Mrinal Sen’s Akash Kusum. Aparna had proven beyond doubt that she was no one film wonder. Bengali film industry was arguably at its zenith then. Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar were in their prime. So was Soumitra Chatterjee. And with Sabitri Chatterjee, Supriya Choudhury and Madhabi Mukherjee to name a few, it was packed with actresses who oozed histrionic talent.
Gate crashers to Tollygunge film industry were unwelcome. But Aparna Sen neither gatecrashed nor slinked in as her talent gave her smooth landing and her range of acting helped her to consolidate.
Hits followed in succession. And the crowds in Kolkata as well as the suburbs stood in long queues before the theatres to see the girl with oomph on screen. It was missing in her seniors and contemporaries and there was no camouflaging her sex appeal. The range of the films Sen acted in her long career, was extraordinary.
If she was girl braving poverty and wealthy neighbours trying to get fresh with her in Ekhane Pinjar, Sen fitted her role perfectly. Marked by crisp dialogues, being pitted against Uttam Kumar, the last word as a romantic hero to the woman of her generation, was no cakewalk.
Aparna had enacted several roles against the Mahanayak. Inarguably her performance against Uttam Kumar and Soumitra was the most memorable in Aparichito in which the actors UtpalDutt and Bikash Roy added to the value of the film. Aparna’s versatility was the key to her long innings before the camera. She was Uttam Kumar’s lover and mentor in Memsaheb and Soumitra’s bete noir in Basanta Bilap.
Yet this was the same actress who made her presence felt in Ivory -Merchant’s Guru, Hullabaloo About Georgie and Bonnie’s picture. A short stay in Bollywood in which she enacted Iman Dharam whose cast comprised Amitabh Bachchan, Sashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha together with Kotwal Sahab with Shatrughna Sinha may not have provided her with great scope of acting but were certainly pointers to her adaptability.
One cannot wrap up her acting career without mention of Nilkantha. Sans a hero, Sen portrayed the pain and pathos of an inmate of a house of ill fame seeking to go back to normal life where a rebuff awaited her.
Having wiped off the grease paint, Aparna Sen took up director’s megaphone. Her films’ forte was unusual woman centric stories like 36 Chowringhee Lane depicting the loneliness of an Anglo-Indian teacher or Parama based on a housewife rediscovering herself after she enters into an extramarital relation.
In the first film Jennifer Kapoor showed her acting range in an unglamorous. Rakhee Gulzar gave a lifetime performance in the second film. Paramitar Ekdin and Mr and Mrs Iyer proved her directorial credentials beyond doubt.
Never having concealed her left of centre mindset, she sprang a surprise on the 34 year long Left Front dispensation with her criticism of the Nandigram incident. She did not budge even as brickbats rained on her. And just as her fans and critics felt that Aparna Sen had gone into hibernation, she spoke out against the horrendous incident of rape and murder of a woman doctor in RG Kar hospital in August this year. She was at the side of the striking junior doctors one evening.
Ever ebullient having great vibes, Aparna stepped into her 79th year on October 25. She is out and out a film woman who films of and dreams of films.. She is acting in films now directed by young ones like Paramabrata Chattopadhyayay. She is also looking at a number of scripts for direction. Bengali film lovers are still crazy for her new films s she always brings something new in whatever she does. Happy birthday, Aparna Sen. (IPA)
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