Shobha Sen aka Sova Sen, a legendary figure of the Bengali stage, and wife of late thespian Utpal Dutt, died on Sunday, 14 August, following old age complications. She was 93 years old.
During a long career on the stage, she acted in iconic plays like Nabanna (1944), based on the Great Bengal famine where she played the female lead role, and Kallol (1965), set in the backdrop of the 1946 naval mutiny.
Graduating from Bethune College, Sen joined Gananatya Sangha and acted in Nabanna. She later joined Dutt's Little Theatre Group (LTG) in 1953-54 and got married to him in 1960.
The LTG later became Peoples' Theatre Group, in which she acted in most of its productions including Barricade, Tiner Taloyara and Titumir.
Sen also acted in a number of films including Mrinal Sen's Ek Adhuri Kahani (1972) and Ek Din Pratidin (1980), Gautam Ghose' Dekha (2001) and Dutt's Jhar (1982) and Baisakhi Megh (1981).
In 1983, she played a crucial role in Basu Chatterjee's Hindi movie Pasand Apni Apni.
Her last screen appearance was in Shadows of Time -- a Bengali language German film directed by Florian Gallenberger.
On 10 April, 2010, Sen received the Mother Teresa International Award.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled with Sen's family. "Saddened at the passing of veteran theatre artiste Sobha Sen. My condolences to her family and friends," Banerjee tweeted.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra called Sen a legendary figure of Bengal's theatre movement.
"Comrade Sova Sen will remain as the inspiration of people's voice. My sincerest condolence," said Mishra.