Bengali actors who died under mysterious circumstances

Tollywood has gifted so many stars who have brought entertainment in our mundane lives with their brilliant acting skills. As the industry is left in shock following the alleged suicide of a budding actress Payel Chakraborty, it’s time to recall some other incidents which saw tragic deaths of the actors. Touted to be the seller of all those things rich and famous, Bengali film industry has also witnessed some tragic deaths which make us wonder whether all the glamour and fame is actually worth it at the end of the day. Here we have listed only a few Bengali actors who suffered unnatural deaths.

Mahua Roychowdhury who died in a Calcutta hospital on July 22, 1986 after battling for almost 10 days with third-degree burns made an even bigger splash with her tragic death than at any phase in her successful career. Police investigation that time had a doubt whether she suffered the burns due to bursting of a stove, as her husband Tilak Chakravarty testified. And the suicide theory even fell flat on its face because of the lack of tangible information about the motive for such an action. Many believe it was actually a murder. Mahua’s husband testified he and his wife returned from a party at the next-door flat of film director Anjan Chowdhury at midnight when it all happened. Mahua, as said by Chakravarty, had lighted up the stove when it burst and engulfed her in fire. But his statement didn’t actually square with the fact that the stove was discovered intact by the police later on.

On June 11, 1962 Bengali cinema lost its ‘Dadathakur’. Chhabi Biswas’ tragic death in a motor accident in Kolkata brought the curtains on an illustrious career. He was literally the first international actor of Bengali cinema, a true actor for whom perhaps no laurel is worth enough. There are so many films which highlight the thespian’s riveting acting in a career spanning almost 250 films. ‘Kabuliwala’, ‘Jalsaghar’, ‘Devi’, ‘Kanchenjungha’, ‘Head Master’ – all the films became cult classic in the history of Bengali cinema. He was from a zamindar lineage. The zamindari system already abolished when he stepped into the cinematic world, but the orotund attitude was still there in Chhabi Biswas. He was often called as ‘Last of the Aristocrats’ for his both onscreen and off-screen appearances.

Five days after he met with a deadly accident, Pijush Ganguly breathed his last following a multi-organ failure at a city hospital on October 25, 2015. It was a sad day for Tolly industry. The noted actor and dancer Malabika Sen were returning to Kolkata after a show when his car had a head-on collision with a bus near Santragachi in Howrah on October 20. Malabika was also injured but her injuries were not serious. Pijush Ganguly’s career started as a stage actor and then he stepped into television and films. He played pivotal roles in critically acclaimed films such as ‘Gaynar Baksha’ by Aparna Sen, ‘Laptop’ by Kaushik Ganguly, ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ by Anjan Dutta, ‘Iti Srikanta’ by Anjan Das and ‘Mahulbanir Sereng’ by Sekhar Das.

The city was in shock last year when a semi-decomposed body of a young actress Bitasta Saha was discovered from her flat in Kasba. The actress made her debut in ‘Banchha Elo Firey’ (2016), a sequel to 1980 Bengali hit ‘Bancharamer Bagan’ and had a few other film offers at the time of her mysterious death. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling. Following repeated unanswered phone calls for two days, her mother visited the flat where Bitasta used to stay alone. Police investigation revealed one of Bitasta's wrists was slit and injury marks were also visible on her body. Bitasta’s family later booked an FIR at Gorfa police station claiming she had an alleged affair with an income tax officer.

This budding actress is the latest victim of the dark alleys of celluloid. Payel was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday morning, August 5 in a Siliguri hotel, North Bengal. A police investigation has already started and preliminary reports are suggesting it’s a case of suicide. The actress who is originally from South Kolkata checked into a hotel near Siliguri Church Road on Tuesday evening. According to the hotel authorities, she was supposed to leave for Gangtok on Wednesday morning. But there was no trace of her leaving the hotel on Wednesday and her room was also locked from inside since her arrival. The hotel authorities had to inform the local police as there was no response from her even after repeated knocks on the door. Later, the local police found her body and sent it for postmortem. The budding actress was supposed to play a key role in an upcoming Bengali film ‘Kelo’. She also had a brief appearance in Dev starrer ‘cockpit’ (2017). The talented actress had also worked in some TV serials.