Remembering Yesteryear Actress Sumitra Devi 1923-90

Sumitra Devi was a reigning actress of Bengali Cinema during forties and fifties.
Sumitra Devi (1923 – 28 th Aug 1990) is known for her work in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema during the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. She was one of the exquisite beauties of her time and has been regarded as the most beautiful woman of her time by veterans like Pradeep Kumar and Uttam Kumar.
Sumitra Devi was born in 1923 at Shiuri, in Birbhum, West Bengal. Her original name was Nilima Chattopadhyay. Her father Murali Chattopadhyay was an advocate.  When she was in her teenage, she was immensely influenced by the beauty and stature of the veteran actress Kanan Devi and desired to be an actress.
She decided to send an application along with a photograph of her own to the office of New Theatres. As her father was conservative, she decided to do it secretly and to make her plan fruitful she sought the help of her younger brother Ranajit who agreed to cooperate her. Her letter was answered and she was summoned for an interview and look test. In the office of New Theatres she was asked to read an article thoroughly and she mesmerized the every persons present there with her lucid, euphonic voice and the magnitude of her beauty. She was chosen to play one of the leading roles in New Theatres' film My Sister and adopted her screen name Sumitra Devi. Though Meri Bahen was supposed to be the debut film of Sumitra Devi, she finally made her debut in Apurba Mitra's Bengali film Sandhi (1944) which became a huge hit at box office. She was going to the shooting floor of Meri Bahen but was stalled on the mid way by Debaki Kumar Bose who offered her to act in his nephew Apurba Mitra's Sandhi. After the film had been released, she was highly appreciated for her unlaboured acting skill as well as credited as an actress having an "outstanding luminous screen presence". The film won her the Bengal Film Journalists' Association - Best Actress Award in 1945. In 1945, she appeared in Soumyen Mukhopadhyay's Hindi film Wasiyatnama which was originally an adaptation of veteran Bengali author Bamkim Chandra Chattopadhyay's famous novel Krishnakanter Will. In this film, she played the character of a beautiful widow who seduces the male protagonist, elopes with him and ultimately gets killed by him. She earned rave review for her enticing as well as doleful performance in the film. In late forties she appeared in several Bengali films like Sushil Majumdar's Abhijog (1947), Satish Dasgupta and Digambar Chattopadhay's Pather Dabi (1947), Hemchandra Chandra's Pratibad(1948), Niren Lahiri's Joyjatra (1948), Pashupati Chattopadhyay's Swami (1949) and Satish Dasgupta's Devi Chowdhurani (1949). She was paired with Debi Mukherjee in Sushil Majumdar's Abhijog (1947) which became a huge hit at box office. In 1949, she delineated the character of Prafulla in Bengali Film Devi Chowdhurani which is an adaptation of the renowned Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel of the same name. She played the character of a woman who is abandoned by her clink, gets kidnapped by some ruffians but manages to escape and hides herself in a lone forest where she meets a person who trains her as the leading figure of his gang of robbers. She earned mixed review for her performance in the film as several connoisseurs adjudged her too buxom to fit in the character and criticised her stating that she lacked the vim and vigour of Prafulla. The film was a major success at box office.
In 1950, she appeared in Nitin Bose's Hindi film Mashaal which is based on Rajani, a famous Bengali novel by the veteran author Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay. She played the character of Tarangini who is in love with the character of Samar played by Ashok Kumar but is compelled by her father to get married to a wealthy landlord. Later on she appeared in Hindi films like Deewana (1952), Mamta (1952), Ghunghroo (1952), Raja Harischandra (1952), Mayurpankh (1954), Chor Bazaar (1954), Jagte Raho (1956), Delhi Darbar (1956) to name a few.

In 1955, she appeared in Ardhendu Mukhopadhyay's Bengali film Dasyu Mohan which became a huge hit at box office. In 1956, she appeared in Pinaki Mukhopadhyay's Bengali film Asabarna (1956) and Kartik Chattopadhyay's blockbuster Saheb Bibi Golam (1956) which is an adaptation of Bimal Mitra's classic novel of the same name. She plays the character of a beautiful, alcoholic wife of an aristocrat, who forms a loving yet platonic relationship with the protagonist Bhootnath.She has been most remembered for her role in this film.
The film was released on the 9th March, 1956 and turned out a massive hit at box office. In 1957, she appeared in Kartik Chattopadhyay's another blockbuster Nilachaley Mahaprabhu. In 1958, she was paired with Uttam Kumar in Jiban Gangopadhgay's ambitious venture Joutuk. Sumitra Devi's reign began to slow down in sixties. In 1964, she rendered the character of Draupadi in Chandrakant Gor's Hindi film Veer Bhimsen. In the same year, she appeared in O. C. Gangopadhyay's Kinu Gowalar Gali where she played the character of a woman who is desperate to win back her husband's love for her.