Debashree Roy

Roy was born and brought up in a Bengali family in Kolkata. Her father Birendra Kishore Roy was an employee at West Bengal Finance Corporation. Her mother Arati Roy was the principal of Sai Natraj Shikshayatan. She is the youngest and sixth child after Purnima Lahiri, Krishna Mukherjee, Ramendra Kishore Roy, Mrigen Roy and Tanushree Bhattacharya. Purnima Lahiri, her eldest sister is a former hair stylist. Her second eldest sister Krishna Mukherjee is a former playback singer and wife of filmmaker, Ram Mukherjee. They are the parents of actress Rani Mukerji. Her deceased brother Ramendra Kishore Roy was a cinematographer of South Indian cinema. Mrigen Roy is an event manager and executive producer of Bengali cinema. Her sister Tanushree Bhattacharya, popularly known as Jhumki Roy is a former actress of Bengali cinema and a playback singer. She is married to director Sanjay Bhattacharya. Initially, she took her dancing lessons from her mother, her eldest sister and then Bandana Sen. later on, she was trained by Kelucharan Mahapatra.

Roy's mother, initially, wanted Roy to become a dancer. She alongside her sister Tanushree Bhattacharya, made a career in dance at a very young age after she became popular for her role in Balak Gadadhar (1969). Barin Dhar, a famous impresario at that time named her "Rumki" and her sister Tanushree "Jhumki". She was trained in Odissi by Kelucharan Mohapatra. In 1991, she formed her troupe Natraj. In 1991, she was hailed for Vasavdatta, a production by Natraj. It was a dance-drama where she translated classical Indian dance forms and their iconography into a solemn contemporary dance movements. It was based on Abhisar, a poem by Rabindranath Tagore. She enacted the role of Vasabdatta, a celebrated courtesan who meets a young mendicant on her way and pleads him to accept her hospitality at her home. The mendicant assures her that he will accept only when the right time will come. Later, Vasavdatta is banished and left alone outside of her city as she has contracted a contagious disease. The mendicant comes, takes her into his arms and says that the time has come. Roy was careful enough regarding the sobriety and delicacy while rehearsing it. Vasavdatta got full seat occupancy every time it was staged.

Roy was exposed to Indian folk dances as well by Kelucharan Mohapatra and took a keen and sincere interest to adapt them on stage. She ventured into an attempt to manifest the forms of folk dances of Bengal in Swapner Sandhane, the much acclaimed production of Natraj. She was most applauded for her wider attempt to present the various forms of Indian folk dance in Bichitro, the first abroad production of Natraj. The project was critically acclaimed in western media. It was regarded as a valuable workshop on south-eastern Asian culture by Pariscope. Bhashyo wrote: "She created a jugglery with those rapid change in posture and movement."

Roy had an interrupted dance career due to her commitment to film industry. She was always in a dilemma regarding which to focus primarily on between dance and film. After the major success of Bichitro, Roy was persuaded by some of her close ones to pay priority to her dance over her film career as she was regarded as much more excellent as a dancer than an actress. As Roy was, at that time, the most bankable female star of Bengali cinema, directors and producers did not want her to focus less on her film career. Besides, Roy was getting offered to essay a lot of substantial roles and she did not want to refuse them for the sake of her stage career.

In 1998, Subarna Bharati was staged for the first time. The production glorified amelioration of India since Independence till Kargil war. The Telegraph wrote that the show upheld rich multicultural heritage of India. Later on, she ventured into Fusion art and collaborated with Taaltantra in some of their tours. She rendered the nine moods of Bharata Muni's Natya Shastra in Navaras, where she exhibited an innovative dance form imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance. She has been acclaimed for her vigour while dancing and to sustain this she has always been careful enough regarding the selection of the colour for her costumes, which ranged from tint, tone and shade to exotic ones. She was also acclaimed for her use of mirrors and curtains on stage, which she claimed to have been used to vivify her presentation.