Suchitra Sen

The following year, she filmed ‘Sharey Chuattor’ with none other than the heartthrob of Bengal at the time – Uttam Kumar, and her career took off. Her first official release, however, was Sukumar Dasgupta's Saat Number Kayedi (1953). More than anything else, audiences loved the chemistry of the two stars. Sen and Kumar went on to do several hit films together like ‘Harano Sur’ and ‘Saptapadi’ and were loved by film watchers so much that their names 'Uttam-Suchitra' are still taken together by Bengali film lovers.

From 1979 on, she retreated from public life and shunned all forms of public contact; for this she is often compared to Greta Garbo. In 2005, she refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest cinematic award in India, to stay out of the public eye.