Konkona Sen Sharma

Konkona Sen Sharma (born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Hindi and Bengali films.

She has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards.

The daughter of filmmaker and actress Aparna Sen, she is primarily known for her work in independent films, in addition to working in mainstream films.

Konkona Sen Sharma was born on 3 December 1979.

Her father Mukul Sharma was a science writer and journalist and her mother Aparna Sen is an actress and film director.

She has an elder sister, Kamalini Chatterjee.

Sen Sharma's maternal grandfather, Chidananda Dasgupta, was a film critic, scholar, professor, writer and one of the co-founders of the Calcutta Film Society.

Her grandmother Supriya Dasgupta was a cousin of legendary modern Bengali poet Jibanananda Das.

Making her debut as a child artist in the film Indira (1983), Sen Sharma had her first leading role as an adult in the Bengali thriller Ek Je Aachhe Kanya (2000).

Sen Sharma made her debut as a child artist in the Bengali film Indira (1983).

Sen Sharma graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi with a Bachelor's degree in English in 2001.

She was a student of the Modern High School for Girls.

In 2001, she made her adult debut in the Bengali film Ek Je Aachhe Kanya, in which she played a negative character.

She gained notice with the English-language film Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002), directed by her mother, which won her the National Film Award for Best Actress.

This was followed by a role in Rituparno Ghosh's acclaimed film Titli (2002), opposite Mithun Chakraborty and her mother Aparna Sen. These films earned her critical acclaim and helped her gain notice in Bengali cinema.

In 2002, she achieved her breakthrough in Indian cinema with the English-language drama Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, directed by Aparna Sen opposite Rahul Bose.

The film told the story of two strangers during a fateful bus journey amidst the carnages of a communal strife in India.

It performed moderately well at the box-office, but earned widespread critical acclaim from domestic and international critics upon release.

Sen Sharma's performance as a Tamil housewife and her mastery of the accent received universal acclaim and earned her the National Film Award for Best Actress.

She forayed into Hindi cinema with the drama Page 3 (2005), and won two consecutive Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in the dramas Omkara (2006) and Life in a... Metro (2007), with the former also winning her the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her other notable films during his period include 15 Park Avenue (2005), Dosar (2006), Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007), Luck By Chance (2009), Wake Up Sid (2009) and Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? (2010).

In 2005, Sen Sharma starred in Madhur Bhandarkar's drama Page 3, which saw her portray the role of a smart journalist who steps into the world of Page 3 culture media and journalism in the city of Mumbai.

Upon release, the film received high critical acclaim, and emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.

Page 3 helped Sen Sharma gain notice in Hindi cinema and earned her the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut.

The same year, she also starred alongside Waheeda Rehman, Shabana Azmi and Bose in her mother's directorial 15 Park Avenue, which saw her play a mentally-ill woman, which also earned her critical praise, despite the film's commercial failure.

Following a critically-acclaimed performance as a mentally-ill woman in the drama 15 Park Avenue (2006), she portrayed a middle-aged village woman who unknowlingly becomes a pawn in her husband's scheme in Vishal Bhardwaj's crime drama Omkara (2006).

Starring an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi and Bipasha Basu alongside Sen Sharma, the film opened to widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for her performance.

However, due to its dark theme and strong language which kept away family audiences, it emerged as a moderate commercial successat the box-office.

Her performance in the film earned her the National Film Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her next release was the suspense thriller Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante (2006), which was a critical and commercial disaster.

The same year, she made her directorial debut with an 18-minute Bengali short film titled Naamkoron (Naming Ceremony) for the Kala Ghoda Film Festival.

Following this, she starred alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee in the Bengali drama Dosar, directed by Rituporno Ghosh.

The film premiered at several international film festivals and emerged as a sleeper hit at the box-office.

Her performance in the film won her the Best Actress award at the New York Indian Film Festival.

Sen Sharma was next offered the lead role in Mira Nair's Hollywood drama The Namesake (2007), but owing to clashing dates with other films, she could not commit to the project.

She began 2007 by portraying a street prostitute in the noir film Traffic Signal which marked her second collaboration with Bhandarkar.

Her performance was later included in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" by Filmfare.

Sen Sharma achieved further success with starring roles in Ek Thi Daayan (2013), Goynar Baksho (2014), Talvar (2015) and Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017).

She made her directorial debut with the drama A Death in the Gunj (2017), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director.

She also received praise for starring in the anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans (2021) and for directing a segment in Lust Stories 2 (2023).