Aparna Sen

Early life and education

Sen was born in a Bengali family, originally from Cox's Bazar in Chittagong District (now in Bangladesh). Her father was the veteran critic and filmmaker Chidananda Dasgupta. Her mother Supriya Dasgupta was a  costume designer and earned the National Film Award for Best Costume Design for Chidananda's directorial venture Amodini (1995), at the age of 73. Sen is a relative of Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. Sen spent her childhood in Hazaribagh and Kolkata and had her schooling at Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata, India. She studied for her B.A. in English at Presidency College, but did not complete the degree.

Actor

Sen made her film debut at the age of 15, 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 longtime friend of her father's). She then studied at Kolkata's Presidency College.
At fifteen she was photographed by Brian Brake for the well-known photo from his 1960 "Monsoon" series of photographs; the photo appeared on the cover of Life.
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 for which she was awarded the prize for Best Actress at the Moscow Film Festival. . From then until the end of the 1970s, she worked steadily in the Bengali film industry, as a leading heroine of the time. She acted in a few Hindi films as well during this time, including Imaan Dharam (1977) with Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha. Sen was successful in mainstream Bengali films. Her chemistry with Soumitra Chatterjee in films such as Basanta Bilap, Baksa Badal and Chhutir Phande was loved as much as her work with Uttam Kumar in films like Joy Jayanti, Memshaheb and Alor Thikana.
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.

Director

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) winning the Silver Lotus at the National Awards for Best Bengali Film, Sati (1989), which won the National Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Yugant (1995), which won the National Award for Best Bengali Film. Paroma examined the feminine condition in modern-day India from different perspectives. She also starred in Unishe April (1994), the film by Bengali filmmaker 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 Sen herself. It won a number of awards on the international festival circuit and the National Award for Best Bengali Films.
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. It won the National Award for Best English Film.
Aparna Sen's next film, The Japanese Wife (2010), starred 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. The Hidden Gems Film Festival (HGFF) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada screened the 2010 film, The Japanese Wife, on Sunday, October 24, 2010.  HGFF awarded Aparna Sen its Ammonite Award for Best Director that year. The Japanese Wife also won the Audience Award at the Kerala film Festival.
In 2009, Sen announced her next Bengali film Iti Mrinalini, which starred Konkona Sen Sharma, Aparna Sen, Rajat Kapoor, Kaushik Sen, and Priyanshu Chatterjee. First-time screenwriter Ranjan Ghosh co-authored Iti Mrinalini. This was the first time that 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. It was also a major first in Indian screenwriting, as the first time that any screenplay from an Indian film institute was actually filmed. The film was released on 29 July 2011.
In 2013, her film Goynar Baksho (The Jewellery Box) was released depicting three generations of women and their relationship to a box of jewels. It ran to packed houses and won critical acclaim from reviewers and critics. Thereafter, in 2015, Arshinagar, an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet was released.
Sen directed her first - and, to date, only - Hindi film Saari Raat in 2015. Based on a play by Badal Sircar and starring Konkona Sen Sharma, the film premiered at the London International Film Festival.
In 2017, Sonata—an English film written and directed by Sen—was released. Adapted from a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar, the film examines the life of three middle-aged unmarried friends played by Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi and Lillete Dubey.
Sen has made selective films and, in a directorial career spanning more than three decades, she has made only thirteen feature films and one telefilm (Picnic, 1989).

Personal life

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

Honors

Sen has served on juries at film festivals around the world. In 1989 she was a member of the jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival. In 2008, she was elected into the International Jury of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In 2013, she headed the jury of the second Ladakh International Film Festival.
From 1986 to 2005, Sen was the 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 2011 she took charge as the editor of the magazine Paroma launched by the Saradha Group.  Following the Saradha Group financial scandal, Paroma ran into trouble. It finally closed down on 14 April 2013. Sen and her editorial team launched a new magazine called Prathama Ekhon, which was short-lived.
In 1987, the then President of India, Giani Zail Singh bestowed the Padma Shri on Sen in recognition of her contribution to Indian cinema. Since then, she has received several lifetime achievement awards.