Suchitra Sen

She was born Rama Dasgupta in 1931 in Pabna, in what is now Bangladesh, and married into the well-known Sen family of Kolkata before entering films. She took the name Suchitra Sen, and from her earliest hits it was clear Bengali cinema had found a genuine star.

She had a face the camera adored and a presence that was at once regal and warm. Within a few years she was the leading lady of Bengali cinema and one of its defining icons.

Her partnership with Uttam Kumar became the most celebrated screen pairing in Bengali film history. Across a string of romances — Harano Sur, Saptapadi, Agni Pariksha and many more — 'Uttam-Suchitra' came to mean romance itself for Bengali audiences, a chemistry that has never been equalled in the industry.

She was equally powerful alone, in dramas like Saat Pake Bandha and Deep Jwele Jaai, roles that showed a depth beyond her glamour. She won admiration at home and abroad, becoming one of the first Indian actresses to be recognised at an international festival.

In 1975 she crossed over to Hindi cinema in Gulzar's Aandhi, playing a politician whose life echoed, in some viewers' minds, that of a real leader — a role that brought her national fame and some controversy. It proved she was more than a regional icon.

By then she had been a superstar for two decades. But even as her national profile rose, she was moving toward a decision that would astonish the country.

Around 1978 Suchitra Sen made her last film, and in 1979 she withdrew from public life entirely. Drawn to the Ramakrishna Mission and its spiritual world, she cut herself off from cinema and the press, refusing to be seen, interviewed or photographed. She kept that vow with almost total discipline for 35 years.

The most striking proof of her resolve came when she reportedly declined the Dadasaheb Phalke Award — India's highest film honour — because accepting it in person would have broken her seclusion. When she died on 17 January 2014 at 82, after a long illness, the country mourned a legend most living Indians had never once seen in public. She had turned her own disappearance into part of her legend.