Arshiya Mukherjee to Meghan Chakraborty: Most popular Bengali child actors and their iconic on-screen characters

There would be hardly anyone who didn’t fall for Jhilik’s innocent smile, Bhutu’s mischievous actions or Bini’s cult dialogue ‘Porane Ganga Jol Dhalba Kyamne’. With their innate talent and power-packed performance, these kids left the audience mesmerized. Though a few of them have grown up by now, their on-screen characters remain fresh in the minds of Bengali audiences. Let's take a look at some of the child artists whose reel characters are etched in the hearts of Bengali audiences. (Photo: Facebook)

Tithi Bose played Jhilik’s character in the Bengali television serial, ‘Maa… Tomaye Chara Ghum Asena’ which turned out to be an instant hit. It made her an overnight sensation and prompted the makers to launch it in other languages. The story inspired the makers to launch similar shows in Hindi (Chikoo Ki Mummy Durr Kei, Meri Maa), Tamil (Amma and Bommukutty Ammavukku ), Telugu (Paape Maa Jeevanajyothi), and Malayalam (Amma). Tithi was pretty young when the show was launched and enjoyed immense popularity. She is all grown up now but the Bengali audience still remembers the curly-haired girl named Jhilik, who stole their hearts with her power-packed performance. (Photo: Facebook)

Bengali audience couldn’t get enough of Bhutu, the sweet little ghost wearing an oversized shirt. Arshiya Mukherjee was barely 6 when she played the role. She became a star soon after the very first promo of ‘Bhutu’ was launched. Seeing the success of the television show, it was remade in Hindi as well and Arshiya played the lead character in this show too. She is now in class VI and featured in two other TV shows including ‘Sree Krishna Bhakto Meera’ and ‘Ranu Pelo Lottery’, but Bengali viewers still recall her as Bhutu. (Photo: Facebook)

Meghan made the audience fall in love with her right after the promo of ‘Prothoma Kadambini’ went on air. She played Bini, the young avatar of Dr. Kadambini Ganguly in the television adaptation. Meghan, who was barely a few feet tall, left the audience surprised with her acting skills and dialogue delivery. Her dialogue, 'Porane Gangajol Dhalba Kyamne', became a huge hit. But TV viewers were left disappointed when Bini stepped into adulthood all of a sudden following a time leap in 'Prothoma Kadambini'. Since kids weren’t allowed to shoot because of the pandemic at that time, the makers were forced to introduce Solanki as grown-up Bini.

TV show ‘Phirki’, revolving around a transgender mom and her daughter, is remembered for a number of reasons. While Araja as Lakshmi was brilliant, child artist Mahi also managed to steal a million hearts as Phirki.

Guddu and Guriya brought a refreshing change on Bengali television with their story. Child artists Abhirup and Pritha played Guddu and Guriya and managed to make an instant bond with the audience. Abhirup, later played a role in ‘Sreemoyee’ too. (Photo: Facebook)

Hiya Dey aka Potol is yet another artist who managed to etch her name in the hearts of Bengali audiences. The show was an instant hit and was remade in Hindi (Kulfi Kumar Bajewala), Tamil (Mouna Raagam), Telugu (Koilamma), Malayalam (Vanambadi). Hiya is now a teenager. After Potol Kumar Gaanwala’s success, she played the lead in ‘Alo Chhaya’, and is currently busy with Raj Chakraborty’s TV show ‘Phanla’. For Bengali TV viewers, she is still Potol Kumar who innocent smile stole a million hearts. (Photo: Facebook)

Aishwarya, who also featured in ‘Rani Rashmoni’, made her presence felt with the TV show 'Amloki'. She became very popular right after the promo was out. She effortlessly played the role of a speech-impaired kid in the show.

Sinchana Sarkar, who was earlier seen playing Tuli's role in ‘Potol Kumar Gaanwala’ (which raised some eyebrows for showing young Tuli in negative shades), stole hearts with her performance in ‘Gopal Bhar’. She played Parbati, Gopal Bhar's wife. Her sweet and sour relationship with Gopal reminded the Bengali audience of Tom and Jerry.

Raktim Samanata stole a million hearts as the anchor of ‘Dance Bangla Dance Junior’. Later, he bagged the titular role in ‘Gopal Bhar’. From a boy-next-door to the witty 'Gopal', Raktim’s journey is quite interesting. He simply impressed the audience with his natural acting skills and sense of humour. He is a grown up boy now and was last seen in a cookery show as actress Aparajita Adhya's co-host.

Little Krittika Chakraborty is cute as a button. The little girl emerged to be a talented actress as she portrayed the character Rakhi in the serial ‘Rakhi Bandhan’. The tiny girl with her cute dialogues stole the hearts of the Bengali audience. (Photo: Facebook)