Soumitra Chatterjee's wife Deepa dies of kidney failure at 83

Deepa Chatterjee, wife of the late Soumitra Chatterjee, died early yesterday of kidney failure. She was 83.

Durga was admitted at a hospital in Beleghata, Kolkata, on 31 March after her condition deteriorated. She had diabetes for 45 years.

Women whose talents were subsumed by marriage to famous men

According to the Press Trust of India news agency, their daughter Poulomi Bose said her mother had lost the will to live ever since Soumitra Chatterjee died last November and kept saying, “Please let me go now.”

Soumitra, veteran actor and a cultural icon of Bengal, died on 15 November 2020 after a long battle with COVID-19 complications, leaving a vast legacy of work in Bengali cinema, theatre and literature.

Soumitra Chatterjee (1935-2020): Icon who enriched Bengal's culture and Indian cinema

Deepa, a former state badminton champion, married Soumitra in 1960. She also acted in the Uttam Kumar- and Supriya Chowdhury-starrer Bilambita Lay (1970) and in the film Durga (2001), which featured Soumitra as well. She also featured in Catherine Berge's documentary on Soumitra Chatterjee's career titled Gaach (1998).