“Dada Ami Bachte Chai” (brother I want to live). These lines were immortalised by Supriya Chowdhury’s poignant emotional delivery in “Meghe Dhaka Tara”. She was at her best directed by Ritwik Ghatak in “Komal Gandhar”. An accomplished actress and dancer, Supriya Chowdhury is an iconic figure of Bengali cinema. Directors like Pijush Bose experimented with her very successfully in tragic, comic as well as romantic films.
Popularly referred to as the Sophia Loren of Bengali cinema, Supriya Chowdhury never imitated the Hollywood legend. Her sensuality never appeared vulgar and her husky voice added to her appeal. In fact, Dr. V. Shantaram commented Supriya Chowdhury was never camera conscious and was an effortless actress.
At 85, Supriya Chowdhury leads a simple and content life.
Please share your experience of working with Ritwik Ghatak.
Ritwik Ghatak was the most non compromising director I worked with. Gifted with an excellent sense of script, he was a true visionary. He never pampered his actors. Strict to the core, he possessed the ability to extract memorable performances. In ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, he gave me ample scope to emote and controlled me well. He admonished and corrected me if I performed wrongly. The pangs of Partition were relevant to his realistic cinema.
You shared a good rapport with Uttam Kumar.
I worked in maximum films opposite him. ‘Uttarayan’, ‘Bilambito Loi’ and ‘Sanyasi Raja’ are some memorable films we acted in. Uttam Kumar had the ability to match any heroine of his era. He was conscious of his majestic screen presence, haunting smile, resonant voice and star status. Yet he never allowed the star in him to rule the actor. He put a lot of efforts behind each character. The efforts never showed when he actually performed.
How was your bond with your contemporaries?
We shared a healthy relationship and believed in clean competition. For instance, I acted with Sabitri Chatterjee in ‘Uttarayan’. Never did any of us try to dominate the other. I have high regards for Suchitra Sen who was the greatest star of Bengali cinema. I am proud of my illustrious contemporaries and feel all of them were talented. I do not believe in comparing Arundhuti Devi with Madhabi Mukherjee. It is unjust to do so.
In spite of critical acclaim in “Door Gagan Ki Chaon Mein”, you never opted for Hindi films.
(Smiles) I also acted opposite the handsome Dharmendra in ‘Aap Ki Parchaiyan’. Dev Anand offered me Simmi’s role in ‘Teen Deviyaan’. I politely refused. My mind was never ready to make a career in Hindi cinema. I had plenty of good offers in Bengali films and concentrated on them. I accepted ‘Door Gagan...’ because it was an offbeat film by Kishore Kumar. I highly appreciate Meena Kumari, Nargis and Nutan who were wonderful actresses.
Vyjayanthimala was full of praise of your performance in “Amrapali”.
I am honoured to learn it. She has no peers as ‘Amrapali’ in Hindi. I performed as much as required of me. My dancing abilities were well utilised in ‘Amrapali’ and ‘Teen Adhyay’. In Bengali films, which were mainly literature-based, dancing opportunities were available only if the script demanded. Today at 85, I do not lament that I have much more to achieve.
