Ruma Guha Thakurta (21 November 1934 – 3 June 2019) was an Indian actress and singer primarily associated with Bengali language films. She founded Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958.

Early life

Ruma Guha Thakurta was born as Ruma Ghosh on 3 November 1934 to Satyen Ghosh (Monty Ghosh) and singer Sati Devi. Her family was culturally inclined to

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of the most influential religious movements in India and made a significant contribution to ...

, a societal component of Brahmoism. Her mother Sati was eldest sister of Bijoya Ray, the wife of

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

. Guha Thakurta was a trained vocalist and a dancer. She started training in music at Swarabitan in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, which had been established by her parents. In later years, she studied under Abdul Rehman Khan of Patiala gharana, the

Ustad Ustad, ustadh, ustaz or ustadz (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ''ustād'') is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages, incl ...

of Nirmla Devi and

Lakshmi Shankar Lakshmi Shankar (née Sastri, 16 June 1926 – 30 December 2013) was an Indian singer and a noted Hindustani classical music, Hindustani classical. Born into a south Indian Hindu family, she became an outstanding Hindustani music, Hindustani voc ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. She also trained in dance at "

Uday Shankar Uday Shankar (born Uday Shankar Choudhary; 8 December 1900 – 26 September 1977) was an Indian dancer and choreographer, best known for creating a fusion style of dance, adapting European theatrical techniques to Indian classical dance, imbu ...

India Cultural Centre" at Almora. She married

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...

in 1951 and had a son

Amit Kumar Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, ...

by this marriage. The couple divorced in 1958 and she married Arup Guha Thakurta in 1960. The couple had two children, Ayan and Sromona. Sromona is also a singer.

Career

Guha Thakurta made her acting debut in Amiya Chakravarty's '' Jwar Bhata'' (1944) at age ten. This was the debut film of

Dilip Kumar Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan; 11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021) was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in cinema, he dominated Hindi cinema from the 1950s throughout t ...

. Her next film as Ruma Ghosh was

Nitin Bose Nitin Bose (26 April 1897 – 14 April 1986) was an Indian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter of the nation's film industry. He was born in Calcutta and died in the same city. In the 1930s and early 40s, he worked with New Theatr ...

, whose first cousin was her aunt's father-in-law,'s ''Mashaal'' (1950) in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, which had a Bengali version called ''Samar'', adapted from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel ''Rajani''. She portrayed a blind girl, Sarla. After her divorce, Ruma moved to Calcutta to act in Rajen Tarafdar’s ''Ganga'' based on Samaresh Bose’s eponymous cult novel. She acted as one of two leading ladies, with

Sandhya Roy Sandhya Roy is an Indian actress and politician. One of the most successful actresses of Bengali cinema, she reigned as a leading actress for approximately 30 years. She has received numerous awards including four BFJA Awards and a Filmfare A ...

. ''Ganga'' won the National award for Best Feature Film that year and Ruma's portrayal of Himi received critical acclamation. In the same year, she acted in ''Personal Assistant'' opposite to Bhanu Bandopadhayay and in ''Khaniker Atithi'' by Tapan Sinha. Her film career revived in 1962 with ''Benarasi,'' produced by her and directed by her husband. It was the tale of a courtesan who tries to lead a life of dignity and respect, when her childhood sweetheart, Ratan, takes her away from her terrible environment. It flopped, but won the BFJA Award for Best Feature Film the following year.

Filmography

As an actress

As a playback singer

Awards

BFJA Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

(1964) for Best Actress in supporting role –

Palatak '' Palatak'' is a 1963 Bengali film directed by Jatrik. The film features actors Anup Kumar, Sandhya Roy and Ruma Guha Thakurta in the lead roles. The film was based on ''Angti Chattujjer Vai'', a Bengali short story of Manoj Basu. Shyam ...

* IFFI Best Actor Award (Female) (1965) for " Nirjan Saikate" at 3rd IFFI

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thakurta, Ruma Guha 2019 deaths Bengali actresses Actresses in Bengali cinema Bengali singers Brahmos People associated with Santiniketan Indian film actresses Actresses from Kolkata 20th-century Indian actresses 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from West Bengal Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian women playback singers Bengali playback singers Singers from Kolkata 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian actresses 1934 births