Sreelekha Mitra

Mitra was born in Calcutta. Her father Santosh Mitra was a thespian actor. She passed ICSE from Auxilium Convent School, Dum Dum. She completed her graduation at Jaypuriya College, with English literature as her honours subject. She went to pursue masters in English literature at Calcutta University but quit it when she got a job at Taj Hotel, Kolkata. Mitra grew her urge to be an actress during her school days. While working at Taj Hotel, Kolkata, she was advised by one of her acquaintances to appear for an audition conducted by Teleframe, the production house of Samaresh Majumdar who had been looking for a fresh face for the female lead of his new Bengali TV series Balikar Prem. She appeared wearing a saree. At first, Dulal Lahiri, the director of the TV series and Majumdar, the producer and screenplay writer were reluctant to cast her since they had been looking for a girl who had to portray a teenager in the TV series. She was finalized after she reappeared wearing a skirt. The TV series was not completed ultimately. Ranjit Mallick portrayed the role of her father in it. She then, started working as an anchor in several programmes aired in Channel 8. During her working schedule in Channel 8, she met Rabiranjan Maitra who helped her bag roles in two consecutive Odia feature films. In 1996, she was proposed to play the female lead in the Bengali TV series Trishna. It was directed by Anindya Sarkar. Her role as Nabanita in the TV series earned her popularity. At a fast pace she carried on with prominent roles in Bengali films. Her first film alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee was Samadhan (1997) directed by Swapan Saha. The film also stars Rituparna Sengupta as the ladylove of the character played by Chatterjee. Mitra played the role of the sister of the character played by Chatterjee. She often reminisced that, back in 1990s, she was always told to play the sister to Chatterjee even though she had potential to play the female lead. She bagged the female lead opposite Chatterjee in Sagarbanya (1998). While shooting for the film, she had an accident, for which she had to lose significant roles in several films. She featured in Basu Chatterjee's Hothat Brishti (1998) where she portrayed Priti. The film came out as a major success at the box office. In her 2020 vlog Let's Expose Face It, she claimed that she never had any significant elevation in her career even after the huge success of Hothat Brishti (1998). She exposed that she had to lose a number of central female roles since she never showed any interest to be the ladylove of Prosenjit Chatterjee who, then had a monopolistic foothold in Bengali film industry. Till 2001, she had to play the second fiddle in the films she was offered. She featured as the female lead opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee in Rabi Kinagi's Annadata (2002). It wasn’t something I did on an impulse; it was latent inside me. Sushant’s death acted as a catalyst. I revisited that trauma. I’ve suffered the sense of neglect, of identity crisis, gone through depression, even contemplated suicide. Why would I knock on doors asking for work? She garnered wider applause for her role in Pratibimba, a Bengali TV series broadcast on Alpha Bangla between 2002 and 2004. The series was a major commercial success running 700 episodes. In 2003, Mitra appeared, alongside Aamir Khan in a Coca-Cola advertisement directed by Pradip Sarkar. Sarkar proposed her to portray the role of Gayatri in his directorial venture Parineeta (2005). She eschewed the role. She never clarified why she refused Parineeta. She was then featured in Arghyakamal Mitra's Jonmodin (2005). In 2006, she came to wider attention for her role in Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's much acclaimed film Kantatar, where she essayed the character of Sudha, an illegal immigrant who moves from one man to another and from one religion to another in quest of love. The film earned her the Anandalok Award for Best Actress in 2006 and BFJA Award for Best Actress in 2007. She featured in Manoj Michigan's Bengali drama film Hello Kolkata (2008). She featured as Raka opposite Indraneil Sengupta in Kamaleswar Mukherjee's drama film Uro Chithi (2011). It won critical favour for her performance in Uro Chithi (2011). She was awarded the Zee Bangla Gourav Samman for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film. She featured as Madhumita Sanyal in Anik Dutta's Bhooter Bhabishyat (2012). In 2014, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award East for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Ashchorjyo Prodeep. Suman Ghosh approached her to portray the role of Binodini Dasi in his Kadambari (2015). She featured in Arindam Sil's Swade Ahlade (2015). In 2015, she collaborated with Raja Dasgupta in his big screen directorial debut Choukaath, where she essayed the role of Debi who meets an accident, loses her consciousness and is taken to the hospital by an unknown passer-by. When she regains her consciousness, she cannot recall what happened to her after the accident. Later, she discovers that her husband suspects that she was raped after the accident and bears the rapist's child. The film was a critical success. Mitra was well acclaimed for her performance in the film. Anandabajar claimed that her performance in the film was the best one until date. Times of India described her performance as "understated and dignified in her pain". She accepted the role of Bimala in Reema Mukherjee's directorial debut Ardhangini Ek Ardhsatya (2016) based on Tagore's much celebrated novel Ghare Baire. The film met neither critical nor commercial success. Mitra eschewed the lead in Dupur Thakurpo: Season 2. Mitra featured as 'Pori pishi' in Rainbow Jelly (2018), a film by Soukarya Ghosal. Her performance in the film won her critical favour. She featured in Anshumaan Banerjee's Baro Second (2020) where she played Srijita alongside Silajit portraying Debanjan, Srijita's husband and the male protagonist. Her directorial venture is Bitter Half. She will be seen in The Inside Job, a film directed by Shieladitya Moulik. She featured in Nirbhaya. Sreelekha starred in Aditya Vikram Sengupta's third feature film, Once Upon a Time in Calcutta, as Ela, the protagonist of the film. She plays a bereaved mother who wants a separation from her husband and struggles to have a separate house for herself. To fit in the shoe of the character, Sengupta never approved her to wear any makeup. I could see myself in Ela as well. A bit of Sreelekha rubbed onto Ela and a bit of Ela rubbed onto Sreelekha. An osmosis was happening between us. I could feel Ela’s angst, pain, desperation, but due to that desperation things that Ela did Sreelekha would never do; something which I think is amoral. The film had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Mid-Day considered the film one of the 20 best Indian films of 2021. Of her performance in the film, Anupama Chopra writes, "Sreelekha plays Ela without a trace of vanity. Her circumstances might be pathetic but she certainly isn't. Instead, Aditya and Gokhan imbue her life with poetry." For her performance, she got overwhelmingly positive reviews. The role earned her an award in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category at the New York Indian Film Festival, 2022. Her directorial venture Ebong Chaad won the Best Short Film award at the Colaj Bengaluru Bengali Film Festival, 2022 and She was awarded in the Best Director — Short Film category. Mitra, then, featured in Raaj Mukherjee's Bengali dramafilm Tritiyo Purush (2022). She would be seen in Fair and Ugly directed by Prosenjit Biswas. She approached by Rashed Raha, to portray the role of Anamika Saha, a successful entrepreneur his Bangladeshi venture Kolkata Diaries. The screenplay was written by Khairul Basar.