Actress Suchitra Sen gets hospitalised, condition serious

Legendary actress Suchitra Sen is in a serious condition after she was admitted to a private hospital following a respiratory tract infection, doctors said on Sunday. 

The 82-year-old actress, who lives a secluded life and stays locked up inside her apartment, was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic earlier this week after she complained of breathlessness. 

The clinic has formed a five-member-committee to monitor the health of its star patient 24x7 led by cardiologist Dr Subrata Moitra. 

Sources in the Belle Vue Clinic said Sen is now on oxygen and has complained of chest pain following which her chest’s CT scan was also done.  She is being administered antibiotics and oxygen, they said.  Beginning her career with the Bengali film ‘Shesh Kothai’ in 1952, Sen went on to receive a national award for her performance in the 1955 Hindi film ‘Devdas’ and is the first Indian actress to be awarded at an international film festival — best actress award for ‘Saat Paake Bandha’ in 1963 Moscow film festival. 

But after her 1978 movie ‘Pronoy Pasha’ with Soumitra Chatterjee flopped, she disappeared from the public eye and even allegedly refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005 preferring not to make a public appearance.

Sen was born in Pabna in present day Pabna District of Bangladesh. Her father Karunamoy Dasgupta was the headmaster of the local school and her mother Indira Devi was a homemaker. She was their fifth child and third daughter. She had her formal education in Pabna.

She married Dibanath Sen, son of a wealthy Bengali industrialist, Adinath Sen in 1947 and had one daughter, Moon Moon Sen, who is an actress. Sen made a successful entry after marriage into Bengali films 1952 and then a less successful transition to the Bollywood film industry. According to some unconfirmed but persistent reports in the Bengali press, her marriage was severely strained by her success in the film industry.