By Tirthankar Mitra
Many present day patrons of the stage together with a large group of film goers in Bengal would balk at referring to Sova Sen as a thespian. The roles she had essayed on stage and screen, they feel did not rise to such heights to dub her with this epithet to which her husband and soul mate, Utpal Dutt’s claim would gain unanimous support. Born in Faridpur, now in Bangladesh, Sen died in 2017 at the age of 94.
There are reasons behind the contention of the nay sayers about elevating Sen then with the IPTA, a Communist party cultural wing. This body had sprouted many talents including Sen, denied the status of a great actress even at a time when her birth centenary passed by this week. To her critics/judges Sen was just a good actress but not a great one. They are entitled to their opinion and even Sovadi as she was widely known, would have no quarrel with it.
Being of a generation who have not seen Nabanna which brought alive the voice of a famished populace or Kallol portraying the anguish of some men in uniform being citizens of a nation in chains straining every nerve for freedom, their take about Sen’s performances stands its grounds. But a resounding “No” would have come from those who had grown up in the throes of the man made famine of 1943 which reduced householders to pan handlers which Sen had portrayed so memorably in Nabanna.
Undoubtedly, Sen would have had a more appreciative verdict had the faceless crowd who made Nabanna performances a success been around. It was their support which made this play a household name. But they are no more. Champions of Sen’s acting have to reconcile themselves to this fact.
Talk of her later years performance in the play ‘Kallol’ perhaps may elicit a standing ovation from theatre lovers of a subsequent generation. Not quite, as time not always a great healer has had its toll on them too. They are now a crowd of knock kneed, faint sighted men and women. Beckoning revolution which seemed round the corner in those heady days, their voices whose slogan shouts once reverberated around the city streets , have been reduced into whispers or worse now.
Arguably, the other reason which is looked away from is her allegiance to Communist ideology. All her life, Sen had always carried her ideology on her sleeves. The powers that be during the time span when she had been a rising actress looked askance at Sen’s ideology and her fellow travellers. But such overlooking of her acting talent never made her change her political allegiance which sought to create a more equitable world and she did not deviate from it even as its bastions had crumbled in the second decade of this century.
In so many words, the ranks of the admirers of Sen’s performance have markedly thinned. Yet the accolade showered on her by Sisir Bhaduri for an almost cameo role Udipuri in the play Alamgir more than makes up for the inadequate appreciation of her acting career.
Bhaduri’s prediction “This girl will go far” turned out to be prophetic. Sen has begun the climb of her acting career in which she helped many others journey atop hitherto unscaled peaks and in the process herself play second fiddle.
No acting school could have given Sen a better training than a stage over which Bhaduri presided. A quick learner, she learnt to cry in other words emote and “throw” her voice raising or lowering it’s pitch at will.
Joining Little Theatre Group (later People’s Little Theatre Group) of Utpal Dutt in 1953 was the turning point of Sen’s life. Dutt’s camaraderie with her blossomed into love making her leave behind a failed marriage and begin a new life.
Life had taught Sen to take the rough with the smooth from an early age. Her “second innings” in partnership with a man after her heart was doubtless more rewarding and fulfilling than her first. Sen’s stint before cine cameras started in 1950 with Chinnamool directed by Nemai Ghosh. It was followed by Satyen Bose’s Paribartan and Babla, a Hindi film in which her performance fetched her a best actress award.
But acting on Bengali stage was Sen’s forte, a fact underscored by her performances in the famous plays of the last century Tiner Talwar, Titumir, Barricade, Angar and Ferari Fauj. Though she poured her heart out in every role she enacted, Krishna Bai in Kallol, Kasturi in Mahabidroha, Urmila in Surjyashikar, Lady Macbeth and Marina in Lal Durgo were close to her heart.
Versatility was Sova Sen’s middle name. Even if she was not the heroine, the roles she acted in the films like Khokababur Pratyabartan, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, Dekha, Nagarik, Thagini, Paka Dekha her performances speak volumes of her penchant for film acting.
A disciplinarian to her fingertips, Sova Sen never cultivated the image of an actor who forgets his/her lines and is late at rehearsals. One fondly recalls her performance in the play Kiratparba when an unwell Sen walked up the stage supporting herself on a stick and performed.
Looking after the needs of the theatre group which often extend from the stage to the ministerial chambers in the state secretariat, Sen often did the spadework which is tended to be overlooked. She was ahead of her illustrious husband in this respect..Dedicated to the Bengali theatre till her last breath, Sova Sen was a great teacher to the young theatre workers of Bengal. (IPA Service)