Sabitri Chatterjee
Chatterjee receiving thePadma Shri Award from Indian presidentPranab Mukherjee, 2014
Born	(1937-02-21)21 February 1937 (age 88) Comilla,Bangladesh
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1947–present
Father	Sashadhar Chatterjee[citation needed]
Awards	BFJA Awards Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Banga Bibhushan Padma Shri

Sabitri Chatterjee (born 21 February 1937) is an Indian actress who is known for her work inBengali theatre andcinema. Her career spans more than seventy years.^[1] She twice won theBFJA Awards. In 1999, she was conferred withSangeet Natak Akademi Award for acting in Bengali theatre. In 2013, she was awarded by the Government of West Bengal its highest civilian award; theBanga Bibhushan.

In 2014,Government of India conferred upon her its fourth-highest civilian award thePadma Shri.^[2]

She was born inComilla, inBritish India (now in Bangladesh). During thepartition of Bengal, she was sent to the safety of an older, married sister's house inKolkata located atTollygunge. During her adolescence, she was noticed byBhanu Banerjee who took her to Uttar Sarathi group theatre for a role in their playNatun Ihudi. Later she emerged as a prominent thespian personality for the title role in the playShyamali which was staged atStar Theatre. She made her big screen debut inUttam Kumar starrerSahajatri (1951) directed by Agradoot and appeared as her first female lead inSudhir Mukherjee's comedy filmPasher Bari (1952) which was a major success at box office. She is remembered for her roles in films such asRaat Bhor (1955),Upahar (1955),Abhayer Biye (1957),Nupur (1958),Gali Theke Rajpath (1959),Marutirtha Hinglaj (1959),Kuhak (1960),Badhu (1962),Bhranti Bilas (1963),Uttarayan (1963),Jaya (1965),Kal Tumi Aleya (1966),Nishipadma (1970),Dhanyi Meye (1971) andMalyadan (1971) to name a few.Soumitra Chatterjee described her as the finest actor he has worked with.^{[citation needed]}

Sabitri was born on 21 February 1937 in a small town of Kamalapur inComilla District of present-dayBangladesh^[3] and is youngest among ten sisters.^[4] Her father Sashadhar Chatterjee, who belonged to a famousKulinRarhi Brahmin family from a Kulin Brahmin village called Kanaksar inBikrampur, worked as a station master inIndian Railways. During thepartition of Bengal, young Sabitri was sent to the safety of an older, married sister's house inKolkata located atTollygunge – the hub of filmmaking in Kolkata. Being brought up in Tollygunge she often saw filmstars of that time.^[5]

When Sabitri Chatterjee was in class ten, she was noticed by veteran actorBhanu Banerjee who picked her up for a role inNatun Ihudi, a play of Uttar Sarathi group theatre on the refugees fromEast Pakistan. The play was being directed byKanu Banerjee – the actor who would later perform asHarihar Roy, inSatyajit Ray'sPather Panchali andAparajito. Sabitri also acted the film version of the play which was released in 1953.^{[citation needed]} She made her big screen debut inUttam Kumar starrerSahajatri (1951) directed byAgradoot and appeared as her first female lead in Sudhir Mukherjee's comedy filmPasher Bari (1952) which was a major success at box office.^{[citation needed]}

Sabitri Chatterjee's next film assignment wasSubhada (1952) – a film based on a novel bySarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and directed by Niren Lahiri along withChhabi Biswas andPahari Sanyal. In this film, she played the role of an unfortunate girl named Lalana. In the same year, she appeared in theUttam Kumar starrer family dramaBasu Poribar (1952), directed byNirmal Dey, which hadSupriya Devi in the role of Uttam Kumar's sister. Sabitri and Uttam Kumar had been friends since 1951,Uttam Kumar offered her to act in a theatrical production to be produced by his group Krishti O Srishti. The Uttam-Sabitri combination became a favourite of the Bengali cine-goers and their friendship withstood strong but false rumours of marriage.^[1]

They would be responsible for a series of films, includingLakh Taka (1953),Kalyani (1954),Anupama (1954),Raikamal (1955),Nabojanma (1956),Punar Milan (1957),Marutirtha Hinglaj (1959),Raja-Saja (1960),Dui Bhai (1961),Bhranti Bilas (1963),Momer Alo (1964) andNishipadma (1970). They also had major roles inMrinal Sen's first feature filmRaat Bhore (1955) andTapan Sinha's second effortUpahaar (1955).Bhranti Bilas,Mouchak andDhanyi Meye rank high among the Bengali comedy films.^{[citation needed]}

In the early eighties, Sabitri did not appear on screen as before. However, in the late 1980s, she came back with films such asMamoni,Anandalok andHaar-Jeet.

Sabitri Chatterjee continues to act in commercial Bengali cinemas and television till date. She is one of the stars of the mega soap opera Sonar Horin, that has run more than 1000 episodes, which was aired onETV Bangla. She has acted as Muktokeshi in the serialSubarnalata. (The title role was played by the National Film Award-winningAnanya Chatterjee), an adaptation ofAshapurna Devi's novel, which was aired onZee Bangla and as Sona thamma inJol Nupur which was aired onStar Jalsha.

She is acted as a senior matriarch of a family in the TV serialKusum dola, which is aired inSTAR Jalsha. She has played the master chef inJoto Hashi Toto Ranna, which is a fiction cum reality cookery show, where kitchen skills are weaved around a fictional plot revolving around a certain Gupta family. She played a minor role in 2012Star Jalsha serialTapur Tupur, and is currently playing the role of a yesteryear actress inChokher Tara Tui.^[6] This TV serial is also aired in Star Jalsha. She acted in an Indian Bengali show namedAndarmahal, which aired on the popular Bengali entertainment channel Zee Bangla.

• The Bengal Film Journalists' Association (BFJA) Award for Best Actress in Supporting Role in 1967 for "Kal Tumi Aleya"
• BFJA Award-Best Actress in Supporting Role in 1972 for "Malyadan"
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting inBengali theatre in 1999.
• Kalakar Awards- Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
• D.Lit degree from Kalyani University in 2012
• Banga Bibhushan Award in 2013 for her contribution to Indian Cinema.
• Padma Shri Award in 2014 for contributions in Film arts.^[7]

• Sabitri Chatterjee atIMDb

• 1937 births
• Living people
• Actresses from Kolkata
• People from New Alipore
• Bengali actresses
• Bengali Hindus
• Bengali theatre personalities
• Actresses in Bengali cinema
• Indian film actresses
• Indian stage actresses
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts

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