Satabdi Roy

Satabdi Roy (born 5 October 1969) is an Indian actress, film director and politician.

As an actress she is known for her work in Bengali cinema.

She is the recipient of BFJA Awards for two times.

As an actress, she ruled the array of commercial Bengali cinema during the late 1980s and 1990s.

As a director, she has been denounced critically for her use of superfluous themes.

Roy made her film debut opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee in Tapan Sinha's much acclaimed Bengali film Atanka (1986), which won her the BFJA Awards for the Best Supporting Actress in 1987.

She shot to stardom after she had been paired with Tapas Paul in films such as Amar Bandhan (1986), Guru Dakshina (1987), Antaranga (1988), Apan Amar Apan (1990) and Abishkar (1990) to name a few.

Satabdi Roy passed her Madhyamik from Sorojini High School in 1986 and later attended Jogamaya Devi College, a women's college affiliated to the University of Calcutta.

Roy made her film debut opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee in Tapan Sinha's much acclaimed Bengali film Atanka (1986), which earned her the BFJA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting role in 1987.

Earlier, she had worked in a film called Tina, directed by Dinen Gupta, but it was never released.

She rose to stardom after she acted opposite Tapas Paul in Tapan Saha's Amar Bandhan (1986).

In 1987, she had five releases including Hiren Nag's Pratibha, Prabhat Roy's Pratikar, Anjan Mukhopadhyay's Nyay Adhikar, Biresh Chatterjee's Ekanta Apan and Anjan Choudhry's Guru Dakshina, which became a massive grosser at box office.

She was paired with Tapas Paul in this film.

She reprised her chemistry with Paul in Dinen Gupta's Antaranga (1988) and Tarun Majumdar's Parashmani (1988).

Both the films became massive grossers at box office.

She featured opposite Tapas Paul in Angar (1989) that became a major financial success.

Her major hits with Prosenjit Chatterjee include Alingan (1990), Shraddhanjali (1993), Lathi (1996), Sakhi Tumi Kar (1996), Chandragrahan (1997), Ranokhetro (1998), Sajani Aamar Sohag (2000) and Trishul (2000) to name few.

The year 1990 saw Roy emerging out as a bankable film star with her two back-to-back commercial successes Apan Amar Apan by Tarun Majumdar and Abishkar by Salil Dutta.

In both the films, she played the role of an aspiring singer, but was noted more for her role in Abishkar, where she essayed a singer who set out in a quest of her kidnapped sister-in-law.

She was also noted for her role in Tapan Saha's Alingan (1990).

She hit the pinnacle of her professional rivalry with Rituparna Sengupta in the late 1990s since the two were offered most of the female leads opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee after Debashree Roy vowed not to work with Chatterjee any longer.

She made her Bollywood debut in National Award winning director Jyoti Sarup's Naya Zaher (1991).

She went on to convey hits such as Nandan Dasgupta's Prem Pujari (1991), Deb Singha's Adhikar (1992), Guru Bagchi's Pennam Kolkata (1992), Prashanta Nanda's Ghar Sansar (1993), Lal Pan Bibi (1994), Srikanta Guhathakurta's Shraddhanjali (1993), Chiranjeet Chakraborty's Sansar Sangram (1995), Swapan Saha's Sakhi Tumi Kar (1996) and Anjan Banerjee's Chandragrahan (1997) to name a few.

She made her Bollywood debut in National Award winning director Jyoti Sarup's Naya Zaher (1991).

She collaborated with Tapan Sinha for the second time in his Antardhan (1992).

In 1992, Roy was approached to play the role of Sathi in Sreekanta Guha Thakurta's love-triangle film Shraddhanjali (1993).

Initially she was hesitant to accept the role as she was required to share the screen with Debashree Roy.

Prosenjit Chatterjee who played Amit in the film, mediated in this regard stating that he would tackle both the actresses.

The plot revolves around three characters — Amit, Sathi and Bobby.

Bobby falls in love with Amit who is already betrothed to Sathi.

Still she managed to feature opposite Chatterjee in commercially successful Bengali films such as Lathi (1996), Sakhi Tumi Kar (1996), Bakul Priya (1997), Bidroho (1997), Chandragrahan (1997), Ranokhetro (1998), Swamir Aadesh (1998), Kalankini Badhu (2000), Sajoni Aamar Sohag (2000), Shapath Nilam (2000) and Trishul (2000).

Her post-marital career was not successful.

Swapan Saha cast her alongside Tapas Pal, Abhishek Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta in his family drama Sukh Dukkher Sansar (2003).

The film was financial success.

She was conferred with the BFJA Awards for the Best Supporting Actress for the second time in 2005, for her performance in Raja Sen's Debipaksha.

During her heyday, she was often compared to her contemporaries, such as Debashree Roy and Rituparna Sengupta.

She made her directorial debut with Abhinetri (2006), which was an unequivocal reflection of the life and career of Bengali matinee idol Suchitra Sen.

The film turned out to be a commercial as well as critical failure.

She was born in Agarpara to Shailen and Nilima Roy.

She is a Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha since 2009.