Roopa Ganguly

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Roopa Ganguly was born into a large joint family in West Bengal. After completing her schooling from Beltala Girls High School, she went on to graduate from Jogamaya Devi College in Kolkata after which she made her film debut in the year 1985.

Roopa Ganguly was married to Dhruba Mukherjee in 1992 and the couple separated in the year 2006 and the possible reason was stated by her to be her husband’s insecurity of her growing popularity as an actress. She was also in the past in the news for openly confessing having tried to commit suicide thrice after a failed marriage.

Film debut and career break ( 1986-1991) Roopa Ganguly made her film debut in Anil Kapoor starrer Saaheb , where she appeared as an supporting artist in the year 1986. However she went on to make her Malayalam debut in the same year in Mammotty’s IthileIniyum Varu but went on to garner instant popularity by appearing in the famous Mythological TV Series “ Mahabharat” based on the religious epic “Mahabaratha”, the Ravi Chopra directorial had her playing th e central role of “Draupadi” which made her a regular face in Indian households with the show going on to be a stunner with a total premiere of ninety fou r episodes spread across one and a half years. The show which was aired on DD National made her a Television cultural icon and subsequently led to her being active in cinema. Kannada cinema was her initial grooming ground with two back to back projects in Police Matthu Dada and Kadana which made her noted in the Hindi film industry too with the former being shot in Hindi too as Inspector Dhanush. She was then cast by the pioneer of Parallel cinema Mrinal Sen in his art house production Ek Din Achanak, alongside stalwarts like Shabana Azmi, Shreeram Lagoo and more which was a critic favourite and she made her coming known in the Hindi cinema industry. After a Bengali production in Agni Trishna , she went on to play among the star lead in NDFC funded drama film Kamla Ki Maut starring Pankaj Kapoor and Supriya Pathak which dealt with the themes of pre-marital relationship struggles and ideologies of love in Modern India. The movie was well received by the critics. Roopa Ganguly was seen making a steady career up drift with Akshay Kumar’s debut Saugandh, Meena Bazaar, Telegu debut in Naa Ille Naa Swargam and the ensemble action movie Virodhi all in the year 1991 where she donned mostly supporting roles. Consecutive releases (1992- 1995) Virodhi was her first movie of the year 1992 where she appeared in a supporting role along with Dharmendra and Suniel Shetty and many more which was a typical Bollywood mould flick which she followed up with yet another formulaic outing in Nishchaiy with Vinod Khanna and Salman Khan in the lead. Roopa Ganguly came back to Malayalam cinema with the critically acclaimed film Janani which dealt with the relationship friction between a man and his mother sentenced for murder of his father, the movie too had her among the lot. She was next seen starring in the National Award winning Bengali production Padma Nadir Majhi which released in the year 1993 which had her in a major role. After which she appeared in yet another National Award winning production Yugant where she co-starred with Anjan Dutt, the movie narrated the story of a estranged couple who rediscovers mutual feelings for each other. The movie was a critical hit which won her much accolades for her steady act. Subsequent Bengali releases ( 2000-2015) Roopa Ganguly shifted her base to Bengali films in 2000 with acclaimed filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh’s Bariwali, which featured and ensemble cast consisting of Kirron Kher, Chiranjeet along with Roopa Ganguly and the movie panned out to be a major academic success.She then went on to be a major presence in art house Bengali productions like Abar Aranye, Mahulbanir Sereng, Bow Barracks Forever during the years first half of 2000’s. She was next seen in the anthology film Ek Mutho Chabi where she was seen starring in the fifth story of the series named “Tarpor Bhalobasha” along with Bikram Ghosh and Kunal Mitra in the lead which narrated the story of two people who share a forced relationship living together. She received the BFGA Awards for Best Actress in 2005 for the film Krantikaal. Rituparno Ghosh’s Antarmahal and another production Luck was her next major productions in 2009 after which she appeared in other Bengali films like Jaani Dyakha Hawbe and Abosheshey in the years 2011 and 2012. She then came back to Hindi cinema with Ranbir Kapoor’s comedy drama Barfi, where she had a supporting role. Roopa Ganguly returned to Bengali cinema with a major supporting character in the dark comedy Hemlock Society which emerged a critic’s favourite with innumerable Awards. Na Hannyate, Namte Namte and Half Serious were her next releases in Bengali. She was last seen in the Bengal films like Natoker Moto- Like a Play and Arshingar in the year 2015.