Debashree Roy (born 8 August 1962), also known as Debasree Roy, is an Indian actress, dancer, choreographer, politician and animal rights activist. She was a bankable star of Bengali cinema during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. She has received more than forty awards including a National Award, three BFJA Awards, five Kalakar Awards and an Anandalok Award. As a dancer, she is known for her stage adaptations of the various forms of Indian folk dances as well as her innovative dance forms imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance. She runs Natraj dance troupe. She is the founder of Debasree Roy Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works for the cause of stray animals. Roy was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Raidighi constituency from 2011 till 2021.
Her first acting assignment was Hiranmoy Sen's Bengali devotional film Pagal Thakur (1966) where she was cast as an infant Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Her first leading role in Bengali cinema came with Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's film Nadi Theke Sagare (1978). She shot to wider recognition for her role in Aparna Sen's National Award winning directorial debut 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) under Rajshri Productions. She also appeared in several other Hindi films such as Bura Aadmi (1982), Justice Chaudhury (1983), Phulwari (1984), Kabhie Ajnabi The (1985), Seepeeyan (1986) and Pyar Ka Sawan (1989). After her Bengali film Troyee (1982) became a major success at box office, she concentrated more in Bengali cinema.মক্ষীরানি. Anandalok. (March 1984 ed.) Her other major hits at the box office include films such as Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), Lalmahal (1986), Chokher Aloy (1989), Jhankar (1989), Ahankar (1991) and Yuddha (2005) to name a few.
Roy was conferred with BFJA Award for Best Actress (1992) for the first time for her performance in Indar Sen's Bengali film Thikana (1991). She was conferred with the National Film Award for Best Actress (1995) as well as BFJA Award for Best Actress (1997) for her role in Rituparno Ghosh's National Award winning Bengali film Unishe April (1994). She collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh for the second time in his National Award winning Bengali film Asukh (1999) which once again earned her the BFJA Award for Best Actress (2000). She was also critically acclaimed for her performances in films such as Anutap (1992), Sandhyatara (1994), Kaal Sandhya (1997), Prohor (2002) and Shilpantar (2004).
Family and educational background
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 was an actress of Bengali cinema and a playback singer. She was 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.
Acting career
Early career as a child artist (1966—1972) Roy was an infant when she was introduced to cinema. Her mother Arati Roy was a student of Shyamal Mitra and was thus well- acquainted with a number of music composers and filmmakers of Bengali cinema. She was cast in the role of an infant Ramkrishna Paramhansa in Hiranmoy Sen's devotional film Pagal Thakur (1966) alongside Chhaya Devi playing Chandramani Devi, mother of Ramakrishna. She was credited as "Kumari Chumki" in the film. She was noted for the first time for her role in Hiranmoy Sen's another devotional film Balak Gadadhar (1969), her second film assignment where she was once again cast as a young Ramkrishna Paramhansa. Hiranmoy Sen also zeroed in on her to play the role of Devi Kanya Kumari in the film. During this time Tarun Majumdar was looking for a pretty but expressive little face for the role of Ranu in his new Thriller Kuheli (1971). Chhaya Devi who was also a part of that venture suggested Chumki's name for that role. She was cast alongside veterans like Biswajit Chatterjee and Sandhya Roy in the film. Roy portrayed Ranu who, every night, stealthily goes out to meet a mysterious woman whom she believes to be her mother. The film was a prominent success at box office and Chumki became a starlet.সম্রাট ও সুন্দরী. Anandalok. (November 1995 ed.) She featured in Sipayi Ramu (1972).
Profusion of roles (1976—2007)
Following the success of Kuheli (1971), Tarun Majumdar gave his word that he would introduce Roy as a leading actress when she hit her teens. Hence Arati Roy, her mother refused to let Roy play any other supporting roles in order to retain her daughter's exclusivity. In 1975 Roy was finally summoned for the title role in Majumdar's Balika Badhu. The film was the Hindi remake of his 1967 Bengali film Balika Badhu (1967). After she appeared for a look test, Majumdar changed his mind considering her imperfect for this role and she got replaced by Rajni Sharma. An upset Roy, then accepted a role in Sushil Mukherjee's Bengali drama Sudur Niharika (1976) where she was credited as "Rumki Roy". She, then featured in Kushali Goshthi's Aguner Phulki (1978) alongside veterans like Anil Chatterjee and Sabitri Chatterjee. During this time Arabinda Mukhopadhyay was looking for a young actress for the female lead opposite Mithun Chakraborty in Nadi Theke Sagare (1978). Sandhya Roy who played the other female lead in the film suggested the director to cast Roy in the lead opposite Chakraborty. As described by the director, the film narrates the ebb and flow of the life of two unfathered individuals played by Roy and Chakraborty. Roy played Champa, the unfathered daughter to Sandhya Roy. Upon its release, the film received favourable review. Roy was critically appreciated for her gaze in the film. She had to enact the adolescence as well as the adulthood of the character she was given. A perfectionist, director Arabinda Mukhopadhyay wanted her gaze to be mature enough for the adult role while practically, she was not an adult at that time. To shed off her juvenile, impulsive look, He instructed her not to undergo any conversation or any kind of playful activity for a long time before shooting. The film was a major success at box office. She then featured opposite Anil Dhawan in Kuldeep Pandey's Hindi film Ghata (1978). The film won critical favour but failed to create any ripple at box office. She acted opposite Prem Nazir in N. Sankaran Nair's Malayalam film Ee Ganam Marakkumo (1978) where she was credited as "Rugmini Roy". The film was a major failure at box office.
She, then featured in Nirmal Sarbanga's road film G. T. Road (1980). The film did not perform well at box office. During this time Tarun Majumdar came up with the offer for his romantic drama film Dadar Kirti (1980) and suggested to change her name into "Debashree Roy". Her mother never objected to it. She was cast alongside Sandhya Roy, Kali Banerjee, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tapas Paul and Mahua Roychoudhury in the film. She portrayed the character of Bini, the innocent sibling of Saraswati portrayed by Mahua Roychoudhury. The film became a remarkable box office success and her role and vibrant appearance was loved by the audience, alongside the reverse and solemn appearance of Mahua Roychoudhury.
She was again cast in the role of the chirpy sibling of Mahua Roychoudhury in Manu Sen's blockbuster Bengali film Subarnagolak (1981). She featured in Dilip Mukherjee's Bengali film Father (1981) alongside Soumitra Chatterjee, Ranjit Mallick, Haradhan Banerjee, Sumitra Mukherjee, Mithu Mukherjee and Mahua Roychoudhury. After Moon Moon Sen declined the role of Nandita, Aparna Sen proposed Roy to play the part in her directorial debut 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). Nandita along with her boyfriend Samaresh exploits her former teacher's apartment for making love to each other. She was initially hesitant to do the love-making scene with Dhritiman Chatterjee who played Samaresh. The film was a major failure at box office, still Roy was applauded by media personalities due to her good looks and unlaboured screen presence. She, then appeared in Kanak Mishra's Hindi film Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981), under Rajshri Productions. She played Vidya, the love interest of Kundan played by Arun Govil. The film became a jubilee hit at box office. The next year, she appeared in Desh Gautam's Bura Aadmi (1980) which was a major box office debacle. In 1982, she appeared in Tarun Majumdar's Bengali film Meghmukti. The same year, she featured opposite Mithun Chakraborty in Goutam Mukherjee's love triangle Troyee which became a major success at box office. Aparupa, her another release of the same year was a flop at the box office.
Roy featured opposite Tapas Paul in Bijoy Bose's Bengali drama Samapti (1983). She featured in K. Raghavendra Rao's multistarrer Hindi film Justice Chaudhury (1983) alongside Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Moushumi Chatterjee, Sridevi and Raj Kiran. The film was a major success at box office.
In 1984, she appeared in Mukul Dutt's Hindi film Phulwari, under Rajshri Productions. In the film, Roy portrayed the character of Lali, a beautiful, conceited and pampered girl who insults her boyfriend Rajiv on the day of their engagement and discloses to everyone present at her engagement party that she has given consent to marry him because she wanted to avenge an earlier incident when he humiliated her in front of the public. She was paired with Shashi Puri in this film. She featured alongside Kanowaljit Singh and Om Puri in Akash Jain's film Seepeeyan (1984), where she portrayed the role of a beautiful woman who flings herself into water after her boyfriend refused to marry her and is saved by another man whom she later marries. In 1984, she was cast in the role of Kundanadinee in Ajay Kar's Bengali period film Bishabriksha, based on the veteran Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name. She then, featured in Dipranjan Bose's Bengali drama film Parabat Priya (1984), alongside Tapas Paul and Mahua Roychoudhury. The film was a major success at the box office. She played the character of Piyali, a highly pampered girl who decides to poison a glass of milk that her husband was supposed to take.