Mahua Roychoudhury
Personal life
She was a Bengali film actress in the 80s. She was born on 24 September, 1958. Her original name was Shipra Roy Choudhury. Director Tarun Majumdar named her ‘Mahua’. Tarun Majumdar discovered her and Sandhya Roy groomed her. Mahua Roychoudhury was from a lower – middle-class family of DumDum. Her father Nilanjan Roychowdhury was a dancer.
So from her childhood she had the knack of dancing. She could not pursue her studies due to the economic instability of her family. Meanwhile she made her acting debut in Tarun Majumdars 'Sriman Pritthiraj' (1972). She had also shared screen with matinee idol Uttam Kumar in some films notable amongst being 'Sei Chokh','Bagh Bandi Khela' etc. She had produced hit films pairing with actors like Dipankar De, Santu Mukherjee, Samit Bhanja, Tapas Pal, Chiranjeet, Koushik Banerjee, Ranjit Mallik and even Prosenjit. Her next-door girl type acting made her popular in Bengali household. Actresses Sabitri Chattopadhyay, Sandhya Roy groomed her acting skills which further improvised her acting style. Many few actresses of her time knew classical as well as modern dance so well.Mahua infused the art of dancing successfully in her films, a quality quite rare in those days.
She married actor Tilak Chakraborty on May 2, 1976. They had one son named Tamal. Many Bengali heroines lacked good dancing skills in the 70s. Mahua had all such qualities that could establish her as a good actress. She had a beautiful face, good acting and dancing ability. In a very short time she got fame, money everything. Many say that Mahua came from a lower-middle-class family, the taste of fame, money were unexpected for her. She had received the Filmfare Awards for her performance in film 'Dadar Kirti' in 1980. Her outstanding performance in Tapan Sinhas 'Aadmi Aur Aurat' (1984) with Amol Palekar won her critical acclaim that corrected her reputation of merely filling up the box office coffers. There was even a time when Bengali films used to run by her name only. Within a very short span of time Mahua had met with huge success and popularity. She almost by herself had put the Bengali cinema on a comeback-trail with 'Lal Golap' in 1983.
Filmography
- Ashirwad—1987
- Abir—1987
- Raj Purush—1987
- Lalan Fakir—1987
- Shapmukti—1986
- Abhimaan—1986
- Anurager Chowa-1986
- Sandhya Pradip-1985
- Till Theke Tal—1985
- Aloy Phera—1985
- Amar Prithibi—1985
- Shatru—1984
- Aadmi Aur Aurat (TV movie) --1984
- Jog Biyog—1984
- Paroma—1984
- Parabat Priya—1984
- Jabanbondi—1983
- Rajeshwari—1983
- Amrita Kumbher Sandhaney—1982
- Sonar Bangla—1982
- Imon Kalyan—1982
- Saheb—1981
- Pratishodh—1981
- Subarnagolak—1981
- Kapal Kundala—1981
- Pahari Phul—1981
- Surya Sakshi—1981
- Upalabdhi—1981
- Dadar Kirti—1980
- Paka Dekha—1980
- Ghatkali—1979
- Dampati—1976
- Seyi Chokh—1976
- Je Jekhane Danriye—1974
- Sriman Prithviraj—1972
and more
Death
On July 12–13 midnight, 1985, Mahua met with a fire accident receiving serious burns. On July 22 the same year, she succumbed to death owing to her injury. The exact cause of the fire accident remains a mystery. She had nearly around 15 films running on her shoulder at the time of her death. Many of her films were released after her death like'Anurager Choya','Abhimaan','Ashirbaad','Kenaram Becharam' ,'Abir' etc. The whole industry grieved on her sudden demise.[1]