Anjana Bhowmik (30 December 1944 – 17 February 2024) was an Indian actress of Bengali cinema from the 1960s until the 1980s.

Personal life

Bhowmik was born in

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), also known as Koch Bihar, is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal and it stands on bank of the Torsa river. The city is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. During the British Raj, Cooch Behar was the seat of the ...

on 30 December 1944. Her real name was Arati Bhowmik and nickname Babli. Her father was Bibhuti Bhusan Bhowmik. She spent her school days in Cooch Behar. Bhowmik passed the Higher Secondary Exam of the West Bengal Board from

Suniti Academy Sunity Academy is a higher secondary girls' school in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. History The school was founded in 1881 as Sunity College by His Highness, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar. It was named after Her Highness Maharani Suniti ...

of Cooch Behar in 1961. After that she studied in Sarojini Naidu College for Women, under the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. Anjana married Navy Officer Anil Sharma and settled in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Her daughters are

Nilanjana Sharma Nilanjanaa Sengupta (née Sharma) is an actress. She played the role of Mona Joshi, in the show ''Hip Hip Hooray''. Her debut movie was director Subrata Sen's ''Swapner Feriwala''. She is a graduate of English literature. She produced the tel ...

and

Chandana Sharma Chandana Sharma (born 7 August 1982) is an Indian television actress. She is the daughter of Anjana Bhowmik. Her sister Nilanjana Sharma is also an actress. She made her debut in director Rabi Kinagi's '' Premi''. Television career She start ...

, who are also actresses. The older one, Nilanjana Sharma is married to Bengali Actor

Jisshu Sengupta Jisshu Sengupta (born Biswaroop Sengupta; 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter, who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films alongside a few Kannada films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV ...

. Bhowmick died on 17 February 2024, at the age of 79.

Career

Bhowmick made her film debut at the age of 20 in the 1964 film ''Anustup Chanda'' directed by Pijush Bose. Before releasing the film she changed her name to Anjana from Arati. She became popular with the release of her first film. Her acting talent was praised by both audiences and critics. She became one of the major heroines of

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), widely known as Mahanayak (), was an Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema ...

. She and

gave major hits like

Chowringhee Chowringhee (also Chourangi) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. Chowringhee Road (officially Jawaharlal Nehru Road) runs on its western side. A neighbo ...

, "

Kokhono Megh ''Kokhono Megh'' is a 1968 Bengali mystery romance movie directed by Agradoot. It stars Uttam Kumar and Anjana Bhowmik in lead roles. The movie was inspired by the 1963 American mystery comedy '' Charade''. Plot While on vacation at Darj ...

", " Nayika Sangbad", " Roudra Chhaya", "

Raj Drohi Raj or RAJ may refer to: Indian history * British Raj, the British rule in India from 1858 to 1947 (the territory sometimes being informally called the Indian Empire) * Company Raj, the British East India Company rule in the Indian subcontinen ...

". At a certain time of her career when critics predicted she wouldn't be successful without

as hero, she paired with

Soumitra Chattopadhyay Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; ; 19 January 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history ...

in the highly acclaimed "Mahashweta".

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhowmick, Anjana 1944 births 2024 deaths Actresses in Bengali cinema University of Calcutta alumni Indian film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses People from Cooch Behar district