- Aparna Sen
Infobox actor
name = Aparna Sen
অপর্ণা সেন
imagesize = 150px
caption = Aparna Sen
birthdate = birth date and age|1945|10|25
location = flagicon|IndiaKolkata ,India
height =
deathdate =
birthname =
nationalfilmawards=Best Director
(1982) "36 Chowringhee Lane "
(2003) "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer "
Best Screenplay
(2003) "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer "Aparna Sen (née Dasgupta) (Bengali: অপর্ণা সেন "Ôporna Shen") (
October 25 ,1945 - ) is an Indianactress andfilm director .Biography
Early life
Aparna Sen was born in
Kolkata (then Calcutta) to a BengaliBrahmo family, originally from East Bengal. Her father is the veteran critic and film-makerChidananda Dasgupta . Her motherSupriya Dasgupta is the cousin of renowned Bengalipoet Jibanananda Das . She spent her childhood in Hazaribagh and Kolkata and had her schooling in Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata.She studied her BA, English honors in Presidency College, Calcutta but did not complete the degree.
She met the Magnum photographer,
Brian Brake , in Kolkata in 1961 when he was visiting India to photograph his Monsoon series. Brake used Sen as the model for what was to become one of his most well known photographs - a shot of a girl holding her face to the first drops of monsoon rain. The photo shoot was set up on a Kolkata rooftop with a ladder and a watering can. Sen describes the shoot"He took me up to the terrace, had me wear a red sari in the way a village girl does, and asked me to wear a green stud in my nose."
"To be helpful, I said let me wear a red one to match, and he said no - he was so decisive, rather brusque - I think a green one. It was stuck to my nose with glue, because my nose wasn't pierced."
"Someone had a large watering can, and they poured water over me. It was really a very simple affair. It took maybe half an hour." [ [http://www.stuff.co.nz/4580444a1860.html Monsoon Girl's daughter takes out top movie honour] ]
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?__VIEWSTATE=%2FwEPDwUKMTAwNTY3MzM4MGRk2VIBUl0c8JJ0OrrEMBcNzXoTvg8%3D&term=Monsoon+Girl "Monsoon Girl" by Brian Brake]Acting career
Sen made her film debut at the age of 16, when she played the role of Mrinmoyee in the 1961 film "
Teen Kanya " ("Three Daughters") directed bySatyajit Ray (who was a long time friend of her father's). She then studied at Kolkata's Presidency College.Later in life she would work with Satyajit Ray in several of his films, including the short "Pikoo" (1981) where she played the role of an adulterous wife and mother.
In
1965 , Sen resumed her film career inMrinal Sen 's "Akash Kusum". From then until 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 , Sen appeared in "The Guru", an English-language feature byMerchant Ivory Productions . She would make two more films with Merchant-Ivory, "Bombay Talkie " (1970), and "Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures " (1978).She studied BA English honors in Presidency College, Calcutta but did not complete her degree.
She acted with
Rajinikanth in 1981 Tamil hitThee produced byBalaji as Rajini's lover and get killed byR.S. Manohar in a plot to kill Rajinikanth. The movie was co stared bySripriya andSuman .Aparna as director
In
1981 , Sen made her debut as a film director with "36 Chowringhee Lane ". She also wrote itsscreenplay . The film, about an agedAnglo-Indian teacher living in Calcutta, won positive reviews from critics. For her debut feature, Sen won the Best Director award at theIndian National Film Awards . "36 Chowringhee Lane" also won the Grand Prix (the Golden Eagle) at the Manila International Film Festival.She 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 film by Bengali cinema'sRituparno Ghosh .Sen'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), was a love story set against the harsh backdrop of Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence in India. The film won a National Film Award for Sen's direction, and an acting award forKonkona Sen Sharma , the director's daughter. The film won more awards at the Locarno, Hawaii and Manila film festivals."
15, Park Avenue " (2005), is Sen's latest released venture, starring her daughter and the actorsShabana Azmi ,Dhritiman Chaterji ,Waheeda Rehman ,Rahul Bose andSoumitra Chatterjee . The film deals with a girl (Sharma) who is a schizophrenic and her relations with her elder stepsister, played by Azmi.Her next film named "
The Japanese Wife " (2008), starsRaima Sen ,Rahul Bose and a Japanese actress. This film focuses on two women. It is based on a short story by West Bengal authorKunal Basu .Personal life
Sen has been married three times. Her first marriage, to Sanjay Sen, was when she was quite young. Her second husband was the science writer and journalist, Mukul Sharma. They later divorced amicably. Sen is presently married to Kalyan Ray, an author and professor of English who teaches at County College of Morris in Randolph, New Jersey, in the
United States . She has two daughters, Kamalini and Konkona - who is also an actress- and two grandchildren.Other achievements
From 1986 to 2005, Sen was editor of the fortnightly "
Sananda ", a Bengali women's magazine (published by theAnanda Bazar Patrika group) that enjoys equal popularity inWest Bengal andBangladesh . From November 2005 to December 2006, she was associated with the Bengali 24x7 infotainment channelKolkata TV as Creative Director.In
1986 , the then-President of India bestowed thePadma Shri to 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.References
External links
*
* [http://www.calcuttaweb.com/cinema/aparnasen.shtml Profile at calcuttaweb.com]
* [http://www.mybindi.com/arts-entertainment/WHATSON/interview-aparnasen.cfm MyBindi.com interview]
* [http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/jul/27aparna.htm Rediff interview, 2002]
* [http://www.rediff.com/entertai/1999/jun/30apa.htm Rediff profile, 1999]
* [http://www.rediff.com/entertai/1998/nov/23apa.htm Rediff interview, 1998]
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