Uma Dasgupta passes away: Pather Panchali’s Apu, Subir Banerjee, remembers his ‘didi’

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Seventy years later, Banerjee has mislaid his Didi. Dasgupta, Ray’s archetypal heroine, is survived by her daughter. “In Pather Panchali, she died leaving maine alone. In existent beingness too, I person mislaid my Didi today,” says Banerjee.

He remembers her arsenic idiosyncratic with a batch of patience. “She was truthful benignant to me. It was her archetypal movie too, but I would beryllium connected her for guidance. I retrieve for the rainfall sequence, which yet leads to her decease successful the film, we were made to beryllium each time nether a berry tree. We were waiting for the rainfall to arrive. Kakababu (Satyajit Ray) made america beryllium determination for hours. We had nary prime but to entertain ourselves, truthful we would play connection games, tease each other. And erstwhile it yet rained, we were shivering. She was holding maine close, conscionable similar she was expected to successful the film,” says Banerjee.

Dasgupta, who has marvelled generations of cine lovers, was noticed by Ray during her signifier show arsenic a kid artiste astatine a schoolhouse function. The manager past got successful interaction with her schoolhouse and family. She, however, chose not to enactment successful immoderate different film. Filmmaker Sandip Ray, Ray’s son, says that his begetter ever lauded Uma’s earthy quality arsenic an actor. “I was excessively young to retrieve the shoot, but aboriginal successful his beingness my begetter talked astir Uma di’s intelligence. He claimed that moving with her was precise easy. She was a earthy and could recognize complexities of a country precise easily. She chose to enactment distant from cinema for her ain reasons, but adjacent past she volition stay 1 of the astir iconic actors of satellite cinema due to the fact that of that 1 performance,” says Sandip.

But wherefore precisely did she take not to enactment successful different movie again? Banerjee, who besides didn’t enactment successful immoderate different movie aft Pather Panchali, says determination are aggregate reasons. “We knew we wouldn’t beryllium a portion of thing this magical again. That consciousness was there. We person discussed that galore times later. But astatine that time, for astir middle-class Bengalis, the movie manufacture was not a precise bully place. My parents, too, were not blessed astir maine acting successful Pather Panchali, Uma di’s begetter was precise strict. He didn’t privation a movie vocation for her astatine all,” says Banerjee.

Another Satyajit Ray heroine, the iconic Madhabi Mukhopadhyay, rues the death. “I person met her lone a fewer times and the quality of her decease does marque maine precise sad. But I consciousness she had truthful overmuch imaginable arsenic an histrion and it’s specified a nonaccomplishment for america that we didn’t spot her successful immoderate different film,” she says.