‘Chowringhee’ actress Anjana Bhowmik dies at 79

Kolkata: For a heroine who did just 14 Bengali movies and quit acting in the late 80s, it is no small task to leave behind a lasting impression on screen. But Anjana Bhowmik was no ordinary heroine. Without any links to the film world, the 79-year-old actress still created a league of her own in Tollywood. Known for her hits with Uttam Kumar, including “Chowringhee”, “Kakhano Megh”, “Nayika Sangbad”, “Roudra Chhaya”, “Sukhsari” and “Rajdrohi”, Bhowmik breathed her last at a city nursing home on Saturday morning. She is survived by her two daughters Neelanjanaa and Chandana.
The last years of Bhowmik’s life, where she battled geriatric problems gracefully, were spent in the care of Neelanjanaa, her son-in-law actor Jisshu U Sengupta and her granddaughters at their Kolkata residence. Bhowmik, known for being smartness personified, stood out for her spontaneous ability to convey palpable a sense of romanticism that was a far cry from being filmi. Her smile was infectious. “She was my favourite actress from the golden age. Her spontaneity and timing were exemplary,” said Srijit Mukherji. Her screen presence in Pratima Banerjee’s Rabindra Sangeet, ‘Ei kathati mone rekho’, that was picturised on her in “Chowringhee” and Sandhya Mukhopadhyay’s ‘Ki mishti dekho mishti’ picturised on her in “Nayika Sangbad” was unforgettable.
Born in Cooch Behar where she did her schooling, this small town girl shifted to Kolkata during her college days. Her original name was Arati. Films happened to her in 1964 when she was cast in Piyush Bose’s “Anustup Chhanda”. The film, an adaptation of Saroj Kumar Roychowdhury’s work, featured her as Basanta Chowdhury’s wife. A year later, she got a break in an Uttam Kumar film. In Hiren Nag’s “Thana Theke Ashchhi”, she displayed the internalized range of emotions of the character rather powerfully. The next year had two releases – Chhita Bose’s “Griha Sandhane” with Dilip Mukherjee and Sandhyarani and Niren Lahiri’s “Rajdrohi” with Uttam Kumar and Bikas Roy.
The year 1967 saw her being paired opposite Soumitra Chatterjee in “Mahasweta” “Nayika Sangbad” had her sharing screen with the Mahanayak. But it was Mukhopadhyay’s “Chowringhee” that immortalized her. Mukherji had met her before he adapted “Chowringhee” as “Shah Jahan Regency”. During that meeting, she had narrated how she had a blast shooting as airhostess Sujata Mitra. “She exuded real-life charm and subdued sensuality that impressed generations. She played Sujata with such a sense of pathos and longing that was indelible. While she was mostly known for urban style and modern ways, she also lent a streak of originality to characters with rural or mofussil background. Actually, she portrayed a kind of freedom and confidence which suited the new Indian woman of the 70s,” said director Atanu Ghosh.
The same year, she did another film with Uttam Kumar – “Kakhano Megh”. Sushil Majumdar repeated this pair in “Sukh Sari” the next year. Bimal Bhowmick and Narayan Chakraborty got her back in a film with her first hero – Basanta Chowdhury – for “Dibaratrir Kabya”. Her last Bengali film, “Nishibashar”, released in 1987 at Darpana. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee took to X (formerly Twitter) to say that her “an irreparable loss to the world of acting”. The state government had conferred on her Bisesh Chalachitra Puraskar (special film award) in 2012.
Post her marriage with naval officer Anil Sharma, Bhowmik cut short her acting career and devoted her time to her family. “My mother never regretted giving up her film career,” Nilanjanaa has always maintained. But for Bhowmik’s fans, her limited appearance on screen was a loss. As Mukherji said, “She was criminally underutilized. She should have done many more films.”