SUCHITRA SEN PASSES AWAY

Legendary Bengali actor Suchitra Sen who was undergoing treatment at a private health facility in the city died in Kolkata on Friday morning.

She was 82 and is survived by daughter Moon Moon Sen and grand daughters Raima and Riya Sen.

She suffered a massive heart attack on Friday morning and died at 8.25 a.m., doctors attending her said.

Suchitra Sen was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic in southern parts of the city on December 23, with chest infection. A seven member medical board, headed by doctor Subrata Maitra, was treating her over the past three weeks as her condition fluctuated between critical and stable.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was in regular touch with doctors visited the hospital after hearing about her death. Ms. Banerjee said she was a “legendary figure” who could stay away from public eye for over thirty years when many carve for it.

“When I came to see her for the second time at the hospital she asked who I am, with lot of affection,” she said. The family wants that her final rites to be completed peacefully at a crematorium in the city, Ms. Banerjee said.

Sen acted in over 50 movies between 1952 and 1978 of which six were in Hindi. She went into recluse after her last film was released. Over the past three decades she withdrew herself from public life and did not meet people except her family members.

Prominent cinema personalities expressed grief over her death. Renowned actor and director Aparna Sen described her as a “legendary actress” and said, with her death an era has come to end in Bengali cinema.

Actor Mithun Chakraborty said that Sen was undisputed number one actor and a rare mix of beauty and talent.