Karuna Banerjee ( ) ( 25 December 1919 – 13 November 2001 ) was a Bengali actress best known for her role in Satyajit Ray 's '' The Apu Trilogy '' ( 1955 – 1959 ) as the long suffering mother , Sarbajaya . She was nominated for Best Actress at the 1959 BAFTA Awards for her performance in '' Aparajito '' ( 1956 ) , the second part of '' The Apu Trilogy '' . She appeared in a number of other films after that , including Ray 's '' Devi '' ( 1960 ) and '' Kanchenjungha '' ( 1962 )
1959 BAFTA Awards
12th British Academy Film Awards
Karuna Banerjee