Look up Bengali, bengalese, or bengali in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bengali may refer to:

• Bengali people, a major linguistic group in South Asia
• Bengali Hindus, the ethnic group native to eastern India
• Bengali language, the Indo-Aryan language native to Bengal
• Bengali alphabet, the script used to write Bengali, and a variant of Assamese

Other[link]

• Bengali (ThunderCats), a fictional character from the animated television show ThunderCats
• Bengal (cat), the hybrid cat breed, also called Bengali Cat
• Bangalla, a fictional country in The Phantom (miniseries)
• Bengalee (ship)

See also[link]

• Culture of Bengal
• All pages starting with Bengali

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Riya Sen
Riya Sen at a fashion show
Born	Riya Dev Varma (1981-01-24) 24 January 1981 (age 31) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Actor, model
Parents	Bharat Dev Varma Moon Moon Sen
Relatives	Raima Sen (sister) Suchitra Sen (grand mother)

Riya Sen (Bengali: রিয়া সেন [ˈrija ˈʃen]; born Riya Dev Varma on 24 January 1981) is an Indian film actress and model. Riya, who comes from a family of actors including her grandmother Suchitra Sen, mother Moon Moon Sen and sister Raima Sen, began her acting career in 1991 as a child actress in the film Vishkanya. Her first commercial success in her film career was with Style, a 2001 Hindi low-budget sex comedy directed by N. Chandra. Some of her other films include producer Pritish Nandy's musical film, Jhankaar Beats (2003) in Hinglish, Shaadi No. 1 (2005) Malayalam horror film Ananthabhadram (2005).

Riya was first recognised as a model when she performed in Falguni Pathak's music video Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at the age of sixteen. Since then, she has appeared in music videos, television commercials, fashion shows, and on magazine covers. She has been a heartthrob sensation throughout India. Riya has worked as an activist and appeared in an AIDS awareness music video with the aim of dispelling popular myths about the disease. She also helped raise funds for pediatric eye-care. Riya has faced controversies such as a MMS clip with actor Ashmit Patel, her semi-nude photograph on photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar and her on-screen kisses in a conservative Indian film industry.

Acting career[link]

Riya first appeared as a child artist in the film Vishkanya in 1991, where she played the role of the young Pooja Bedi. At the age of 18, she did National Film Awards winning director Bharathiraja's Tamil film, Taj Mahal (2000), which did not achieve commercial success.^[1] She was scheduled to make her Bollywood film debut in Love You Hamesha, opposite actor Akshaye Khanna; however, the film was stalled, and she finally made her debut in N. Chandra's Style in 2001.^[2] This low-budget sex comedy^[3][4] was the first commercial success in over a decade for the director.^[5] A launch pad for Riya, cast in the female lead along with fellow-newcomers, Sharman Joshi, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal, the film pioneered a trend of commercial success for small budget films in India.^[6][7] Riya and the second female lead of the film were replaced by aspirant actresses Sunali Joshi and Jaya Seal in Xc'.^[8][9]

Her next success was Jhankaar Beats, a comedy revolving around the music of legendary composer R D Burman, which saw her playing a small and glamorous role^[10] alongside Shayan Munshi, Juhi Chawla, Rahul Bose, Rinke Khanna and Sanjay Suri. Produced by Pritish Nandy, publishing director of The Times of India,^[11] the film was made on a budget of Rs. 25 million (US$525,000),^[11] marking the sixth in a row of small to medium budget films made by Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC).^[12] Despite being part of a wave of offbeat films that mostly failed to make an impact at the box office,^[13][14] it drew public attention upon its release, which led to a commercial success among a restricted audience targeted by a selective release in twenty cities.^[12][15] It was one of the first films made in Hinglish, a mixture of Hindi and English.^[16][17] In 2005, she starred in Shaadi No. 1, which had no female lead.^[18] This comedy, based on the theme of modern marriage, was directed by David Dhawan, a renowned film director from this genre.^[19][20]

Although films like Style and Jhankar Beats succeeded commercially, most of her later films have generated less revenue.^[21][22] A number of them remained unfinished. While many of her appearances have been item numbers and cameos,^[23][24][25] few of her leading roles have been in low-budget films.^[26] Though she had small roles in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002), Qayamat (2003) and Plan (2004), attention was drawn to her item numbers in all three, especially the one in Qayamat that featured her in a bubble-bath.^[21][27][28] Besides this, she performed another item number in James (2005) on director-producer Ram Gopal Varma's behest, who has a history of casting aspirant actress-models like Sameera Reddy, Isha Koppikar and Koena Mitra in similar roles.^[29] Furthermore, she took part in a dance number for Sajid Khan's Heyy Babyy (2007) that featured several mainstream Bollywood actresses.^[30]

Non-Hindi films[link]

Riya has, in addition to Bollywood films, appeared in Bengali, Tamil,Telugu, Malayalam and English films. Her film career began in the earnest with Tamil films such as Bharathi Raja's Taj Mahal, co-starring Manjoj Bharatiraja in the male lead, and Manoj Bhatnaghar's Good Luck, opposite Prasanth. Both of the films failed commercially, and she had a brief reappearance in Tamil cinema only to perform in a dance number for N. Maharajan's Arasatchi.^{[35][dead link]}

Her first English language movie was It Was Raining That Night, a remake of the Bengali film Hei Brishtir Raat, scripted by Sudeshna Roy and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. In the film, she collaborated with mother Moon Moon Sen.^[36] Riya was slated to appear in Anjan Dutta's Bengali-English bilingual film The Bong Connection with her sister, but she was eventually dropped from the project and replaced by Peeya Rai Chaudhary.^[37] The two sisters were later cast together in director Ajai Sinha's The Bachelor, a Bengali film that, as of 2008, is yet to be finished.^[38]

Her most successful non-Hindi film has been director Santhosh Sivan's Ananthabhadram (2005). The first Malayalam venture for both Riya and Sivan,^[39][40] was both a critical and commercial success. It won five Kerala State Film Awards^[33] and surfaced as one of the biggest Malayalam successes that year.^[31][32] She played the role of Bhama in the film, a village girl who is lured by Digambaran, the evil magician portrayed by Manoj K. Jayan. In a song-and-dance sequence showing Digambaran turning Bhama into a medium for demonic rituals, the choreographer Aparna Sindoor made abundant use Kathakali movements.^[41] The use of Kathakali has been a high point in the resurgence of the classical dance form in other major Indian films as well,^[42] including Shaji Karun's Vanaprastham (1999) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair (2005).^[43][44] She made her Telugu Debut with Nenu Meeku Telusa...?, in which she was paired opposite Manoj Manchu.

Modeling career[link]

Riya became a popular model when she appeared in numerous music videos for songs by popular singers, including Falguni Pathak's Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi (alternative title: Chudi Jo Khankayi), Asha Bhosle's Jhumka Gira Re, Jagjit Singh and Bhosle's Jab Samne Tum and Kahin Kahin Se, Lata Mangeshkar, Bhonsle and Singh's Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin, Sonu Nigam's Jeena Hai Tere Liye and Shaan's Sutta Maro. She shot for her first music video, Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi, at the age of sixteen.^[45][46] This led to her being identified primarily as a performer for music videos early in her career,^[47] an image she aimed to shed in 2005.^[48] Riya has appeared on several magazine covers, including Femina, Elaan,^[49] Man's World,^[50] Gladrags, Savvy and Indian versions of Elle, Maxim and Cosmopolitan,^[51] as well as on the ramp of major fashion shows like Lakmé Fashion Week (2005–07) and Wills Fashion Week (2006–2007). She participated in fashion shows along with her elder sister, Raima Sen.^[52] Besides modeling, Riya has ventured into the advertisement world as well. A high point of her modeling career came in 2006, when she became the soft drink, Limca's brand ambassador, replacing Deepika Padukone.^[53][54] Her other notable assignments include Colgate, Dabur Vatika, Reliance Industries, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, and Nirma.

In 2004, she was featured partially nude in leading Indian photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar, which is a major happening in the Indian glamor industry.^[55][56] According to Daboo, "Her mother saw it much later, after the calendar released. She thought it was too sexy, and Riya shouldn't have done it. But the response to the photograph was superb. Riya was so thrilled that for her next ad campaign, she asked me to light her up like I did in this."^[57] A career highlight for the model,^[58] it led to a three year contract with Ratnani to feature her on his annual calendar.^[59] She is the only female face to be featured on the calendar in five consecutive years (2003–07).^[60][61]

Personal life and family[link]

Born on 24 January 1981 in Kolkata, West Bengal, Riya is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen, a former actress,^[21][62] and granddaughter of Suchitra Sen, a legend in Bengali cinema.^[63] Before leaving for Mumbai, she lived in Kolkata with her parents and sister Raima Sen, also an actress. Her father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura.^[64] Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar, whose younger sister Gayatri Devi was the Maharani of Jaipur.^[64] Her paternal great-grandmother Indira was the only daughter of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.^[65][66] Riya's maternal great-grandfather Adinath Sen was a prominent Kolkata businessman, whose father Dinanath Sen - a relative of former Union Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen- was the Diwan or a Minister of the Maharaja of Tripura.^[67] The sisters are credited on-screen under their mother's maiden name, although their official papers carry the surname Dev Varma.^[68]

Riya completed her schooling at Loreto House and Rani Birla Girls' College, both in Kolkata.^[64] Thereafter, she studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology,^[69] and she took up jewellery-designing as a hobby.^[70] She designs most of the clothes that she wears in films and commercials.^[71] Riya is trained in Kathak and is still pursuing it under Vijayshree Chaudhury.^[72] She is taking kickboxing lessons and has completed Level I of the 5 levels in belly dancing.^[10][73] Riya entered the film industry through small-time modeling assignments, commuting between Mumbai and Kolkata and traveling by public transport during her early career.^[21][74][75] After breaking into the film industry, she shifted from her mother's house in Ballygunge Circular Road in south Kolkata to Mumbai.^[76] There she moved into the family house in Juhu, where she stays with her sister.^[75][77] During her stay in Mumbai, the media romantically linked her to model and actor John Abraham.^[78] In the Bollywood press, she was, in 2008, speculatively linked to the novelist Salman Rushdie, although both stated that they were simply good friends.^[79]

Riya has suffered a number of untimely incidents. During the filming of Shaadi No. 1 in France, she was knocked unconscious after being accidentally run over by a stuntman's motorbike, but she was not seriously injured.^[80] Shortly before the release of Silsiilay, in which she starred opposite her boyfriend Ashmit Patel, a 90-second video clip was circulated through Multimedia Messaging Services and the internet, showing the pair in compromising situations.^[52][81] This was one of a number of controversies that erupted when celebrities were caught in similar situations using cameraphones.^[82][83] Following this incident, the couple split up,^[84][85] although Riya denied that she was the girl in the MMS clip.^[83] One commentator claimed that the footage was an orchestrated publicity stunt.^[86] In 2007, she underwent a brief detoxification session in Bangkok for addiction to chocolate.^[87]

Public persona[link]

Riya's on-screen performances have established her as a sex symbol and youth icon in India.^[10][88][89] Since entering the film industry, she has gained attention for wearing a bikini in Shaadi No. 1^[90][91] and sharing on-screen kisses with co-stars Ashmit Patel in Silsiilay and Sharman Joshi in Style, respectively. Such performances garnered attention because of the relatively conservative outlook of Indian cinema and her own statements about such practises.^[24][92][93] Before becoming a film identity, she had a reputation for partying, which started at the age of fifteen.^[94][95] Riya's public persona is compared to her mother Moon Moon, who was seen as a sex symbol of her time,^[52][96] while her sister Raima is mostly compared their grandmother Suchitra.^[62][97]

Although her film career has yet to achieve large-scale success, Riya has generated considerable media attention. She was ranked ninth on Femina 50 Most Beautiful Women, published in the magazine's September 2007 issue. She was a jury member for the 2008 Final of the Mr. India contest.^[98] Along with Bollywood actors such as Waheeda Rehman, Shilpa Shetty, Dia Mirza, Raveena Tandon, Jackie Shroff, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu and Lara Dutta, Riya appeared in Haath Se Haath Mila, an HIV/AIDS awareness music video.^[89][99] She made charity appearances at McDonald's India to raise money for paediatric eye-care during World Children's Week (14–20 November) in 2003.^[100]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Bollywood portal

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

• List of Indian film actresses
• List of Bollywood Clans: The Sens
• Sex in Indian entertainment

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Riya Sen

• Riya Sen at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Riya Sen in The Telegraph
• Riya and Raima compared in The Telegraph
• Riya Sen on her mother in Hindustan Times

Raima Sen
Born	Raima Dev Varma (1979-11-11) 11 November 1979 (age 32) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999−present
Parents	Bharat Dev Varma Moon Moon Sen
Relatives	Riya Sen (sister) Suchitra Sen (grand mother)

Raima Sen (Bengali: রাইমা সেন; born Raima Dev Varma on 11 November 1979) is an Indian film actress.

Early life[link]

She is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen and the granddaughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Her sister, Riya Sen, is also in the Bollywood industry. Their father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura.^[1] Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar, whose younger sister Gayatri Devi was the Maharani of Jaipur.^[1] Her paternal great-grandmother Indira was the only daughter of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.^[2][3] Raima's maternal great-grandfather Adinath Sen was a prominent Kolkata businessman, whose father Dinanath Sen - a relative of former Union Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen- was the Diwan or a Minister of the Maharaja of Tripura.^[4] The sisters are credited on-screen under their mother's maiden name, although their official papers carry the surname Dev Varma.^[5]

Career[link]

Sen made her debut in the film Godmother, which was a critically acclaimed success, but her minor role may have been overlooked in favour of the protagonist, played by Shabana Azmi. She then starred in the film Daman playing Raveena Tandon's daughter, where her small performance was appreciated.

Her breakthrough role came when she starred in the Rituparno Ghosh's film Chokher Bali. After a few more average movies she had a critically acclaimed hit in 2005 with Parineeta, where she played the playmate of the film's heroine, essayed by the debutante Vidya Balan. Since then she has had two more hits with the action thriller Dus and the Bengali film Antar Mahal (where she had a very small role). In 2006, she appeared in the film The Bong Connection (co-starring Shayan Munshi). In 2007, she worked in the thriller Manorama Six Feet Under with Abhay Deol.

She has signed her first Tamil film and she is expected to do more South Indian films. She has yet, however, to play the leading role in any hit movie.

Personal life[link]

Raima's public profile and image is much lower-key and more demure than that of her sister Riya who has been compared more to their mother. Raima is also said to resemble her grandmother much more than either her mother or her sister.^[6] Journalists who meet her describe her as easy to talk to, and devoid of starry airs.

In an interview, she says while she enjoys Mumbai's faster pace of life, its gyms and its nightclubs, she misses her family in Kolkata, her dog cuddles, and Kolkata's street food, notably Jhal Muri and Aloo Chaat.^[7]

Awards[link]

• 2006: BFJA-Most Promising Actress Award : for Nishi Japan^[8]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Raima Sen at the Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Raima Sen

Jishu Sengupta
Born	Biswaroop Sengupta (1977-03-15) 15 March 1977 (age 35) Kolkata, India
Years active	1999 – present
Spouse	Nilanjana Sharma

Jishu Sengupta (Bengali: যীশু সেনগুপ্ত), popularly known as Jisshu, is a popular Bengali film actor. Though, his real name is Biswaroop Sengupta, he is more famous as Jishu, his pet name. He is the son of Ujjwal Sengupta, also an actor of Bengali films. His mother, Mukta Sengupta, was a homemaker and a wedding planner. Jisshu has an elder sister, Satarupa (Rai) Sengupta, who was previously married (now divorced) to Anindya Bose, the lead singer from the Bengali band, Sahar. Initially, Jisshu was a cricketer, who represented Bengal in some sub junior games. But he was more keen to make a career in the Bengali film industry. He got his first break in a mega serial, Mahaprabhu as the lead character: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. After that, there was no looking back for him. He is a popular figure in contemporary Bengali television. He has recently (June 2011) made a comeback on Bengali television, with the megaserial Aparajito, which is being produced by his own company, Blue Water pictures, and is possibly the very first serial based on a male protagonist.

Jisshu has worked with renowned directors like Shyam Benegal (in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero), and Rituparno Ghosh in The Last Lear (in which the co-actor was Amitabh Bachchan), Shob Charitro Kalponik, and Abohoman, and with Gautam Ghose in Abar Aranye.

Jisshu is an integral part of the Bengal Tigers T20 team in the 2012 Indian Celebrity Cricket League. His half century in the match against the Kerala Strikers was well appreciated.

His wife Nilanjana Sharma, whom he married in 2004, is the elder daughter of Anjana Bhowmick, another Bengali film actress in the Bengali film industry; her debut Bengali film was Swapner Feriwala (2002) directed by Subrata Sen.^[1][2]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jishu Sengupta at the Internet Movie Database
• www.citwf.com profile

Aparna Sen অপর্ণা সেন
Aparna Sen in 2010
Born	Aparna (1945-10-25) 25 October 1945 (age 66) Calcutta, India
Occupation	actor, film director, screenwriter
Awards	Cinemanila Film Festival - Best Film 1982 36 Chowringhee Lane Cinemanila Film Festival - Best Screenplay 2003 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer Mumbai International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize 2000 Paromitar Ek Din Karlovy Vary Film Festival - Ecumenical Jury Award 2000 Paromitar Ek Din Hawaii Film Festival - Best Feature Film 2002 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer Locarno Film Festival - Netpac Award 2003 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer Locarno Film Festival - Youth Jury Award 2003 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer Philadelphia Film Festival - Best Feature 2003 Mr. and Mrs. Iyer

Aparna Sen (née Dasgupta) (Bengali: অপর্ণা সেন Ôporna Shen; born 25 October 1945) is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.

Biography[link]

Aparna Sen was born in Calcutta to a Bengali family, originally from East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Her father is the veteran critic and film-maker Chidananda Dasgupta. Her mother Supriya Dasgupta is the cousin of renowned Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. She spent her childhood in Hazaribagh and Kolkata and had her schooling initially in South Point and later mostly in Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata.

She studied her B.A. English honors in Presidency College..

She met the Magnum photographer, Brian Brake, in Kolkata in 1961 when he was visiting India to photograph his Monsoon series. Brake used Sen as the model for what was to become one of his most well known photographs — a shot of a girl holding her face to the first drops of monsoon rain. The photo shoot was set up on a Kolkata rooftop with a ladder and a watering can. Sen described the shoot:

He took me up to the terrace, had me wear a red sari in the way a village girl does, and asked me to wear a green stud in my nose. To be helpful, I said let me wear a red one to match, and he said no — he was so decisive, rather brusque — I think a green one. It was stuck to my nose with glue, because my nose wasn't pierced. Someone had a large watering can, and they poured water over me. It was really a very simple affair. It took maybe half an hour.^[1]

Acting career[link]

Sen made her film debut at the age of 16, when she played the role of Mrinmoyee in the Samapti portion of the 1961 film Teen Kanya (Three Daughters) directed by Satyajit Ray (who was a long time friend of her father's). She then studied at Kolkata's Presidency College.

Later in life she would work with Satyajit Ray in several of his films, including the short Pikoo (1981) where she played the role of an adulterous wife and mother.

In 1965, Sen resumed her film career in Mrinal Sen's Akash Kusum which was later remade into a Hindi film Manzil starring Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee.Later she also brought out the different nuances of a widow in Mrinal Sen's Mahaprithibi'. From then until the end of the 1970s, she worked steadily in the Bengali film industry, as leading heroine of the time. She acted in a number of Hindi films as well during this time including Imaan Dharam (1977) with Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha. Aparna Sen was equally successful in the mainstream Bengali films.Her chemistry both with Soumitra Chatterjee in films such as Basanta Bilap, Baksa Badal, Chutir Fande were loved as much as her films with Uttam Kumar in Joy Jayanti, Alor Thikana etc.

In 1969, Sen appeared in The Guru, an English-language feature by Merchant Ivory Productions. She would make two more films with Merchant-Ivory, Bombay Talkie (1970), and Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures (1978).

In 2009, Sen appeared with Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose in Annirudh Roy-Chowdhary's Bengali film Antaheen. The film went on to win four National Film Awards.^[2]

Aparna as director[link]

In 1981, Sen made her debut as a film director with 36 Chowringhee Lane. She also wrote its screenplay. The film, about an aged Anglo-Indian teacher living in Calcutta, won positive reviews from critics. For her debut feature, Sen won the Best Director award at the Indian National Film Awards. 36 Chowringhee Lane also won the Grand Prix (the Golden Eagle) at the Manila International Film Festival.

She followed up this early success with several other films, notably Paroma (1984), Sati (1989) and Yugant (1995). These examined the feminine condition in modern-day India from different perspectives. She also starred in Unishe April (1994), the film by Bengali cinema's Rituparno Ghosh.

Sen's next directorial effort Paromitar Ek Din (2000) was a critical hit and recalled the success of her first film. The film explored the relationship between a divorced woman (Rituparna Sengupta) and her mother-in-law, played by Aparna herself. It won a number of awards on the international festival circuit.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002), was a love story set against the harsh backdrop of Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence in India. The film won a National Film Award for Sen's direction, and an acting award for Konkona Sen Sharma, the director's daughter. The film won more awards at the Locarno, Hawaii and Manila film festivals.

15, Park Avenue (2005) starred her daughter and the actors Shabana Azmi, Dhritiman Chaterji, Waheeda Rehman, Rahul Bose and Soumitra Chatterjee. The film deals with a girl (Konkona Sen Sharma) who is a schizophrenic and her relations with her elder stepsister, played by Shabana Azmi.

Her next film named The Japanese Wife (2010), stars Raima Sen, Rahul Bose and Chigusa Takaku. This film focuses on two women and is based on a short story by West Bengal author Kunal Basu.

Aparna has made selective films and in the last three decades of her career, she has made only nine films.

In 2009, Sen announced her next Bengali film Iti Mrinalini, which stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Aparna Sen, Rajat Kapoor, Koushik Sen, and Priyanshu Chatterjee. Sen's last Bengali film was Paromitar Ek Din (2000). First-time screenwriter Ranjan Ghosh has co-authored Iti Mrinalini. This was the first time that Aparna Sen collaborated with any film writer or became attached to the curriculum of a film institute. The screenplay of Iti Mrinalini was an assignment in the Screenwriting syllabus at the Mumbai-based film school Whistling Woods International.^[3] It was also a major first in Indian screenwriting whence any screenplay from any Indian film institute was actually filmed.^[4] The film is released on July 29, 2011.

Personal life[link]

Sen has been married thrice. Her first marriage, to Sanjay Sen, was when she was quite young. Her second husband was the science writer and journalist, Mukul Sharma. They later divorced amicably. Sen is presently married to Kalyan Ray, an author and professor of English who teaches at County College of Morris in Randolph, New Jersey, in the United States. She has two daughters, Kamalini and Konkona—who is also an actress—and two grandchildren.

Other achievements[link]

In 2008, Sen was elected into the International Jury of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The highly credentialed Jury, headed by a president of international distinction, determine winners from all nominations in each award category.

From 1986 to 2005, Sen was editor of the fortnightly Sananda, a Bengali women's magazine (published by the Ananda Bazar Patrika group) that enjoys equal popularity in West Bengal and Bangladesh. From November 2005 to December 2006, she was associated with the Bengali 24x7 infotainment channel Kolkata TV as Creative Director.

In 1986, the then-President of India bestowed the Padma Shri to Sen in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. Since then, she has received several lifetime achievement awards, and served on juries at film festivals around the world.

Filmography[link]

Actress[link]