Madhabi Mukherjee

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Madhabi Mukherjee

Madhabi Mukherjee as Charu in Charulata (1964)
Born February 10, 1942 (1942-02-10) (age 66)
Other name(s) Madhabi Chakraborty, Madhabi Mukhopadhyay

Madhabi Mukherjee née Chakraborty (Bengali: মাধবী মুখোপাধ্যায়) (February 10, 1942 - ) is a reputed Bengali actress who has acted in some of the most critically acclaimed films in Bengali cinema.

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[edit] Background

Mukherjee was raised in Kolkata, in what was then Bengal, India. She and her sister Manjari were raised by their mother. As a young girl, she became involved in the theater.

She started her film career as a child artiste in a film called Kankantala Light Railway in 1950.


[edit] Career

In the early 1960s, she was recruited by Satyajit Ray to portray the role of Arati in the 1963 film, Mahanagar ("The Big City"). She recalled later in her autobiography:

He read me the entire story, Mahanagar. I was stunned. This was the first woman-centered screenplay I had encountered. I was not going to play second fiddle to the main male character as in all plays and films I had acted in or was familiar with. (p.20)

This film was soon followed by her portrayals of Charu in Charulata ("The Lonely Wife"), the 1964 film based on Rabindranath Tagore's novella Nashtanir, and Karuna in Kapurush ("The Coward") in 1965. Mukherjee's stunning portrayal of Charulata ,a bored and neglected housewife of Calcutta in the 19th century, is undoubtedly a towering performance in the history of Indian cinema.


Considered one of India's finest actresses, Mukherjee has also acted in films such as Rituparno Ghosh's Utsab and Subarnarekha by Ritwik Ghatak.


Madhabi Mukherjee is married to Bengali film actor Nirmal Kumar (Mukherjee) and has two daughters.

[edit] References

  • Mukherjee, Madhabi. My Life, My Love: An Autobiography. Palo Alto: The Stanford Theatre Foundation, 1999.

[edit] External links

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