Debashree Roy

Debashree Roy is an Indian actress who is considered as one of the topmost female icons of Bengali cinema. She ruled the array of Bengali cinema in eighties and nineties and has acted in more than hundred films. She was conferred with numerous awards including National Award and BFJA Award. She is also a proclaimed dancer who is known for her idea of amalgamating the various dance forms of Continental India. Roy was born on 8th August, 1961 in Kolkata, West Bengal. She literally began her career when she was actually eleven months old. Her mother Arati Roy brought her to the set of Hiranmoy Sen's Bengali film Pagal Thakur. Her father Birendra Kishore Roy was an employee in West Bengal Finance Corporation. Initially her mother wanted her to be a dancer. In 1971, director Tarun Majumdar cast Roy as Ranu in his much acclaimed Begali thriller Kuheli. As an adult actress her first role was opposite Mithun Chakraborty in Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's Nadi Theke Sagare (1978). She was credited as Rumki Roy in this film. In 1980, Tarun Majumder cast Rumki in his Dadar Kirti and changed her name into Debashree Roy. The film was a cult hit and turned Roy into a new born star. She was then cast in Aparna Sen's much acclaimed English film 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). The film was a failure at box office, but Roy was applauded by Indian media due to her good look and charming screen presence. She made her Hindi debut in Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) under Rajashri Productions and went on to appear in Hindi films like Bura Aadmi (1983), Justice Chaudhury (1983), Phulwari (1984), Seepeeyan (1984) and Kabhi Ajnabi The (1985). She collaborated with Tarun Majumdar for the fourth time in Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985) where she was paired with Tapas Paul. The film was a major success and set up her pairing with Paul as the leading one of eighties. Her major commercial success with Paul includes films like Arpan (1987), Shankhachur (1988), Surer Akashe (1988), Chokher Aloy (1989), Mayabini (1992) to name a few. In the late eighties she almost monopolized the market of Bengali cinema. In 1992, Roy got married to Prosenjit Chatterjee. Their conjugal life became complicated after she had been conferred with National Award for Best Actress for her performance in Rituparno Ghosh's Unishe April (1994) where Roy was seen romancing Chatterjee for the last time. They got separated in 1995. Onwards Roy concentrated more on meaningful roles rather than mainstream commercial ones. She appeared in Bhabendra Nath Saikia's Hindi crime drama Kaal Sandhya (1997). She collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the second time in his Bengali venture Asukh (1999). She also collaborated with Goutam Ghose in Dekha (2001), Bappaditya Bandopadhyay in Shilpantar (2002) and Subhadro Chowdhury in Prohor (2004).