ACTOR- Singer Ruma Guha Thakurta Is No More

RUMA Guha Thakurta, singer-actor and first wife of Bollywood icon Kishore Kumar, passed away on Monday, June 3, in her South Kolkata residence while asleep. She was suffering from age related ailments. She was a niece of world renowned director Satyajit Ray and made her acting debut in Amiya Chakravartys Jwar Bhata in Hindi (1944). The singer-actor started as a dancer before moving to Bollywood where she married Kishore Kumar. Ayan, her  son by second marriage ,said his mother had returned to Kolkata only a month ago after a three-month stay with Amit Kumar in Mumbai. He was 84 years of age when breathed her last. The Kolkata born actor of several Bangla movies and Kishore Kumar are survived by    famed play back singer-actor and director Amit Kumar Ganguly. After 7 years’ of martial life with eccentric Kishore Kumar, they separated in 1958 and she wedded Arup Guha Thakurta, a film director, and has two children with her second husband. She founded Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958 for popularising folk music and mass music. She is the daughter of Satyen Ghosh and her mother was singer Sati Devi. She was married to Kishore Kumar in 1951.She had training in music under the guidance of then noted Rabindra Sangeet singer Debabrata Biswas. Among her about sixty movies are Amrita Kumbher Sandhane, Bahgini, Nirjan Saikate Ganga,36 Chowringhee Lane, Balika Badhu and Palatak, all Bangla movies. She had also starred in some Bollywood films and had the opportunity of working with noted film makers Chetan Anand,Nitin Bose, Tarun Majumdar,  Satyajit Roy, Rajen  Tarafdar,Tapan Sinha,Aparna Sen,besides her spouse Arup Guha  Thakurta directed ASITA Asio Na and Panchasar Bangla films. She was last seen in English film The Namesake directed by Mira Nair.Prosenjit Chatterjee, popular and versatile actor-film maker, says in her demise a glorious chapter of Bengal’s cultural life ends.