Sumitra Devi (actress)

[3][4] Widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her time, she is best remembered for her role in the 1952 Hindi film Mamta directed by Dada Gunjal.

[7][8] In 1943 she was summoned for an interview and look test in the office of New Theatres and was finally cast opposite K. L. Saigal in Hemchander Chander’s Meri Bahen (1944).

[1] In the late 1940s she established herself as a leading actress of Bollywood with roles in films such as Vasiyatnama (1945), Bhai Dooj (1947), Oonch Neech (1948) and Vijay Yatra (1948).

"[9] She was further acclaimed for her role in films such as Deewana (1952), Ghungroo (1952), Mayurpankh (1954), Chor Bazaar (1954) Raj Yogi Bharthari (1954) and Jagte Raho (1956).

[1] She sustained her career in Bengali cinema also with films such as Abhijog (1947), Pather Dabi (1947), Pratibad (1948), Joyjatra (1948), Swami (1949), Devi Chowdhurani (1949), Samar (1950), Dasyu Mohan (1955).

[11][12] Her portrayal of Bijali, a nautch girl with a bereaved heart in Haridas Bhattacharya’s National Award winning Bengali film Aandhare Alo (1957) acquired an overwhelmed critical response.

[13][11] She also garnered acclamation for her roles in Bengali films such as Ekdin Ratre (1956), Nilachaley Mahaprabhu (1957), Joutuk (1958) and Kinu Gowalar Gali (1964).

As her father was conservative, she decided to do it secretly and to make her plan fruitful, she sought the help of her younger brother Ranajit, who agreed to cooperate with her.

At the office of New Theatres, she was asked to read lines from Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay's Ganadevata and she mesmerized everyone present there with her beauty as well as her lucid, euphonic voice.

Anandalok wrote that she was stalled on her way to the shooting floor of Meri Bahen, by Apurba Mitra who offered her to act in his directorial venture.

[23] She, then appeared in Soumyen Mukhopadhyay's Hindi film Vasiyatnama (1945) which was originally an adaptation of veteran Bengali author Bamkim Chandra Chattopadhyay's famous novel Krishnakanter Will.

"[24] Her next big turn was Satish Dasgupta and Digambar Chattopadhay's directorial venture Pather Dabi (1947) which was an adaptation of the renowned Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name and also starred Debi Mukherjee in lead.

[11] Her next turn was Hemchandra Chandra's bilingual venture Oonch Neech (1948) whose Bengali version was released under the title Pratibad.

[24] She appeared in Niren Lahiri's bilingual film Vijay Yatra (1948) whose Bengali version was released under the title Joyjatra.

[24] Her next big turn was Satish Dasgupta's Devi Chowdhurani (1949) which was an adaptation of the renowned Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel of the same name.

[27] She delineated the character of a Prafulla who is abandoned by her clink, gets kidnapped by some ruffians but manages to escape and hides herself in a lone forest where she meets a person who trains her as the leading figure of his gang of robbers.

In 1950, she appeared in Nitin Bose's Hindi film Mashaal, which is based on Rajani, a famous Bengali novel by the veteran author Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay.

[6] In 1956, she appeared in Pinaki Mukhopadhyay's Bengali film Asabarna (1956) and Kartik Chattopadhyay's blockbuster Saheb Bibi Golam (1956), which is an adaptation of Bimal Mitra's classic novel of the same name.

She plays the character of a beautiful, alcoholic wife of an aristocrat, who forms a loving yet platonic relationship with the protagonist Bhootnath.

[26] Her Dasyu Mohan co-actor Pradeep Kumar, who described her as an "instance of the perfect harmonization of beauty and glory", used to come to the set of the film even when he had no schedule of shooting and spend his time sitting by and watching her raptly.