Veteran Bengali actress Swatilekha Sengupta no more

Veteran actress from the Bengali film industry Swatilekha Sengupta breathed her last on Wednesday, June 16, 2021. Her daughter Sohini informed PTI that the 71-year-old actress was suffering from chronic kidney disease and was being treated at a private hospital in Kolkata for the last 24 days.

Swatilekha was honoured at the 2011 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution as an actor to the Indian theatre. The actress was famous for her character Bilma in Satyajit Ray’s directorial Ghare Baire in 1984. In 2021, Swatilekha played the character of Ammi in her final film Dharmajuddha, which is a Bengali political drama directed by Raj Chakraborty.

Director Srijit Mukherji put out the disheartening news on social media with a small quote that read, “Anti, gone. RIP Swatilekha Sengupta:(”

While Raj Chakraborty also tweeted with a picture of the former actress and wrote, “A huge and irreparable loss. Veteran actor and theatre personality Swatilekha Sengupta is no more. May her soul rest in peace.”

Check out the post here:

Filmmaker Onir, who produced Swatilekha's 2016 critically-acclaimed film Chauranga also tweeted after the demise of the actress and wrote: "Very sad to hear about #SwatilekhaSengupta. RIP. Was fortunate enough to work with her briefly as a producer for our film #Chauranga. Unfortunately, the desire to direct her will remain unfulfilled. Gone too soon. Will remain immortalised for her performance in #GhareBhaire."

Swatilekha has also been awarded the West Bengal Theatre Journalists’ Association award and the Paschim Banga Natya Akademi award. The actress has mostly been appreciated and remembered for her character in the film Ghare Baire opposite Soumitra Chatterjee, who left for heavenly abode in November 2020 due to Covid-19.

Swatilekha’s 2015 film Bela Seshe opposite Soumitra Chatterjee can be streamed on Hoichoi.