The Legendary Actress Who Inspired A Generation Of Goddess Durga
Come autumn and any respectable Bengali bhadrolok’s (gentleman) social media feed gets dotted with Durga Puja updates. From dancing kaash phool (wild sugarcane) to wavering cottony clouds against a stark blue sky and regular update of artisans putting the final touches on makeshift marquees (or elaborate art installations) and idols – the ‘pujo pujo feeling’ gets very real. Amidst all this, social media also keeps on throwing up nostalgia-bait images of yesteryear idols and celebrations. Among these, a few black-and-white images of a fiery Goddess Durga keep cropping up, whose countenance has a stark resemblance to a late acting legend – Suchitra Sen. For you see, there was a time when Kolkata did not merely watch Suchitra Sen on screen – the city lived with her.
While Mahanayika Suchitra Sen appeared in iconic films Saat Pake Bandha, Deep Jwele Jaai and Uttar Falguni – her posters pasted across cinema halls and magazine covers - for a remarkable period in the 1950s and 1960s, her face travelled beyond the world of films. The actress who was the face of femininity for an entire generation during the golden age of Bengali cinema, found its way into something far more sacred - Durga Puja.
While Mahanayika Suchitra Sen appeared in iconic films, for a remarkable period in the 1950s and 1060s, her face travelled beyond the world of films
Legend has it that long before the era of theme pujas and celebrity-inspired installations, there were artisans who brought contemporary Bengal into the face of the goddess. Among them was the legendary sculptor Ramesh Chandra Pal, whose Durga idols became famous for their realism, grace and distinctly human quality. And then there was Suchitra Sen.
History will always remember Suchitra Sen (Rama Dasgupta), whose pairing with Mahanayak Uttam Kumar gave Bengal some of the most enduring films of the era. Performances in films such as Agnipariksha, Devdas, Saptapadi and Saat Paake Bandha established her as much more than a conventional screen beauty and she came to represent an idealised Bengali femininity - elegant, emotionally intense and quietly formidable.
In fact, such was the fascination with the actress that contemporary accounts recall idols of Lakshmi and Saraswati being modelled on her features. But nowhere was the connection more striking than at the Kolkata Fire Brigade's Durga Puja. Ask any pujo loving Bengali in Kolkata and they will say that for years the idol of the Fire Brigade Durga Puja made by the legendary Ramesh Pal reportedly carried the unmistakable likeness of Suchitra Sen.
History will always remember Suchitra Sen (Rama Dasgupta), whose pairing with Mahanayak Uttam Kumar gave Bengal some of the most enduring films of the era
Ramesh Pal was no ordinary idol-maker. His work brought greater anatomical realism to the traditional clay image, helping create a goddess who looked less remote and more recognisably human. This was part of a larger transformation in Bengal's idol-making tradition. Artisans influenced by the East Bengal school increasingly moved away from exaggerated, elongated eyes – Khash or Bangla mukh (traditional faces seen usually in household pujas) towards more naturalistic figures. Durga could look like a mother, a daughter or a woman from the world outside the pandal.
And perhaps, in that changing visual landscape, Suchitra Sen was almost an inevitable muse for the public. I mean, who could forget her regality as the dacoit queen in Devi Chowdhurani .
Ramesh Pal created the idols for the Fire Brigade's puja, and the resemblance to Suchitra Sen became so celebrated that the image attracted enormous crowds
Her large, expressive eyes, oval face, poised features and dignified bearing already carried an almost idealised quality on screen. When translated into clay, those qualities could easily acquire another meaning. The actress's face could become the face of a goddess without losing the familiarity that made devotees feel emotionally connected to the idol.
The story of the Fire Brigade Puja has become part of Kolkata's Durga Puja folklore. Ramesh Pal created the idols for the Fire Brigade's puja, and the resemblance to Suchitra Sen became so celebrated that the image attracted enormous crowds. The puja would continue until 1963, after which the Fire Brigade discontinued it, partly because the crowds created practical difficulties for emergency services. Some organisers later became associated with the Mohammed Ali Park Puja. But by then, the image had already entered popular memory.
But did Suchitra really inspire Ramesh Pal? It is here that one has to understand the nuance of the situation.
One might be tempted to say that Ramesh Pal modelled Durga on Suchitra Sen because he was inspired by her beauty. And popular retellings have certainly described the idol in those terms. But Ramesh Pal's son, Prasanta Pal, had once offered a different perspective in an Anandabazar Patrika profile of his father. According to Prasanta, whether the idol resembled Suchitra was beside the point. He insisted that his father was creating a divine image and perhaps he did not consciously imagine a film star while sculpting Durga. However, even he had agreed that the face did bear resemblance to the late actress.
Ramesh Pal gave Bengal a more human Durga, while Suchitra Sen gave an entire generation an image of idealised Bengali womanhood
In the rich tapestry of Durga Puja tradition in Bengal, perhaps Suchitra Sen did not have to be Ramesh Pal's muse for her face to become inseparable from one of his most remembered Durgas. The resemblance itself became a cultural conversation. We saw Suchitra in the goddess, while the sculptor saw the goddess through an artistic vocabulary.
In the end, Ramesh Pal gave Bengal a more human Durga, while Suchitra Sen gave an entire generation an image of idealised Bengali womanhood. And somewhere those two visions became one and allowed devotees to see the divine and the familiar in the same face.
And, for a little while, the face of the goddess, became the face of a cultural icon.
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