Profile of Aparna Sen on Famous Like Me

Aparna Sen (née Dasgupta) (Bangla: অপর্ণা সেন) (October 25, 1945 - ) is an acclaimed Indian actress and film director, and a leading cultural personality of West Bengal.

Early Life and Career

Aparna Sen was born in Kolkata (then Calcutta) to a culturally active Bengali family. Her father is the veteran critic and film-maker Chidananda Dasgupta. She made her film debut at the age of 16, when she played the role of Mrinmoyee in Satyajit Ray's 1961 classic Teen Kanya (Three Daughters). She then studied at Kolkata's Presidency College, long considered one of India's most prestigious liberal arts colleges.

In 1965, she resumed her film career in Mrinal Sen's Akash Kusum. From then till the end of the 1970s, she worked steadily in the Bengali film industry. She acted in a number of Hindi films as well during this time. In 1969, she appeared in The Guru, an English-language feature and the first of three films with the celebrated duo of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. She continued to work with Satyajit Ray in several of his films, including the compelling short Pikoo (1981) where she played the role of an adulterous wife and mother.

Aparna as Director

In 1981, Aparna made her debut as a film director with 36 Chowringhee Lane. She also wrote its screenplay. The film, about an aged English teacher still living in Calcutta three decades after independence, won excellent reviews from critics. For her debut feature, Aparna won the Best Director award at the Indian National Film Awards. 36 Chowringhee Lane also won the Grand Prix (the Golden Eagle) at the Manila International Film Festival.

Aparna followed up this early success with several other films, notably Paroma (1984), Sati (1989) and Yugant (1995). These examined the feminine condition in modern-day India from different perspectives. She also starred in Unishe April (1994), the breakout film by Bengali cinema's newest prodigy Rituparno Ghosh.

Aparna's next directorial effort Paromitar Ek Din (2000) was a critical hit and recalled the success of her first film. The film explored the relationship between a divorced woman (Rituparna Sengupta) and her mother-in-law, played by Aparna herself. It won a number of awards on the international festival circuit.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002), her most recently released film, was a love story set against the harsh backdrop of Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence in India. The film won Aparna a third National Film Award for her direction, and an acting award for Aparna's daughter Konkona Sen Sharma. It won more awards at the Locarno, Hawaii and Manila film festivals.

Other Achievements

Aparna Sen is the long-standing editor of the fortnightly Sananda, a Bengali women's magazine (published by the Ananda Bazar Patrika group) that enjoys equal popularity in West Bengal and Bangladesh.

In 1986, the president of India bestowed the prestigious Padmashree Award to Aparna Sen in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. Since then, she has received several lifetime achievement awards, and served on juries at film festivals around the world.

Aparna Sen has been married thrice. Her second husband was the science writer Mukul Sharma. She is now married to Kalyan Ray, an author and professor of English who teaches in the United States. She has two daughters from her two previous marriages. Konkona Sen Sharma, her younger daughter, is a promising actress in her own right. She has already appeared in Mr and Mrs Iyer and Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3, among others.

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