Lesser known facts about Rituparna Sengupta

Can you imagine this? It’s been almost 26 years since Rituparna Sengupta started acting in the Tollywood industry! The actress has had so many films, some good, some average, few are critically acclaimed, along with awards, and a lot of ups and downs. Here are some of the lesser-known facts about the beautiful Bengali actress you should not miss.

Rituparna Sengupta was studying masters in Modern History when she left college to pursue acting. Earlier she studied at Mount Carmel school in Kolkata and later graduated in History from Lady Brabourne College. Her interest in performing arts began at a young age and learned painting, dancing, singing and handicrafts at a painting school called Chitrangshu.

In 2014, she was honoured with Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her superb performance in 'Alik Sukh'. In 2004, 2006 and 2013 Rituparna won the BFJA-Best Actress award. Rituparna won the National Film Festival of India Award in 1998 for her outstanding performance in the Rituparno Ghosh directorial 'Dahan' opposite Abhishek Chatterjee while the director won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay. The film is based on Suchitra Bhattacharya’s story of the same name.

Bengali acting legend Aparna Sen played her mother-in-law in her debut film ‘Shet Patharer Thala’. Directed by Prabhat Roy, the Bengali classic marked a milestone in Bengali cinema at that time for maintaining a nice balance between commercial success and critical acclaim very successfully. It won the National Award for the Best Regional (Bengali) film and two awards from the Bengal Film Journalists Association (1993) for Aparna Sen as Best Actress and Indrani Sen for Best Playback Singer (Female).

The beautiful Bengali actress worked in a telefilm titled ‘Mohini’, which was directed by none other than the dream girl, Hema Malini. Rituparna was cast in a negative supporting role. 'Mohini' was not just a film about a supernatural phenomenon; it also dealt with the natural events and accidents which may happen any day. How will you react when the handsome guy next door you liked encounters with a terrible accident and burns his face? How will you react if someone tells you that your love interest is not human? This film deals with all these possible accidents and their natural disastrous effects.

Rituparna married the founder and CEO of a mobile application development company Sanjay Chakrabarty in December 1999 and they have a son named Ankan and a daughter named Rishona Niya. However, ever since she started sharing screen space with co-actor Prosenjeet Chatterjee and their pairing became a superhit, rumours started to fly around about their alleged relationship. The speculation reportedly disrupted Rituparna’s married life and she finally decided to stop acting alongside Prosenjit until the 2016 hit ‘Praktan’.

In 2013, the popular actress was detained for five hours at the Toronto airport allegedly for not carrying a valid visa. Rituparna, who was on her way to attend the premiere of Bengali film ‘Mukti’ in Toronto, was allowed in the country after Indian embassy intervened. Furious Rituparna alleged she was interrogated for five hours despite possessing a B1 visa granted to her in 2010 and valid till 2015.

Rituparna’s Bollywood debut was Partho Ghosh directed ‘Teesra Kaun’ released in 1994. The film also featured Mithun Chakraborty, Chunky Panday, Satish Shah and the story revolved around a train journey in a Howrah-Mumbai Mail. It was a remake of 1990 Malayalam film 'No.20 Madras Mail' directed by Joshy, starring Mammootty as himself the superstar and Mohanlal in the lead roles.

The Bengali diva made a special appearance to play a pivotal role in Malayalam film ‘Kadhaveedu’ directed by Sohanlal in 2013 based on three stories. Rituparna was suggested for the role by director Priyadarshan with whom she had worked in the film ‘Bumm Bumm Bole’. In 1996, she also worked in a Kannada movie called ‘Karnataka Suputra’.

The evergreen jodi of Bengali cinema, Rituparna Sengupta and Prosenjit Chatterjee, last appeared in ‘Phul Aar Pathar’ in 2002. The inseparable screen duos of the '90s had gifted several smashing hits at the box office. It took 15 long years to bring them back as they played the lead characters in ‘Praktan’. They are once again teaming up for Kaushik Ganguly’s next movie ‘Dristikone’.