Actor Suchitra Sen might have been known more for her hit films in Bengali, however the very few Hindi films that she acted in became landmarks. One such film is Bimal Roy’s Devdas (1955), where she shared screen space with the legendary actor Dilip Kumar.
On Friday morning, when we broke the news of her death to Dilip saab’s wife, actor Saira Banu, she was at first reluctant to share the news with the 91-year-old actor, who had just battled a bout of ill health.
Sometime later however, the thespian was given the news, who recalled some memories of the time that he and Sen spent, around six decades back, while shooting for Devdas: “I have a distinct memory of Suchitra as a demure lady and an actress who sprang to life the minute the camera was focused on her. She had a natural and perhaps inborn sense of timing and pace which made her responses in the more intense scenes of Devdas, absolutely apt and remarkable. We were on the same wavelength while doing our emotional scenes and like me, she too, did her mental preparation diligently. She was quiet by nature but there were times when she surprised us with her sense of humour. She was one of the simplest and nicest leading ladies I have worked with."