Veteran Bengali actress Mithu Mukherjee, who was known as the “Rekha of Tollywood,” breathed her last on Sunday, September 20, night at the age of 71 after a prolonged illness. She was severely unwell for the past year. The end came at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after a long battle with cancer. She had worked with legends like Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee. She was active in cinema from 1971 to 1990. Tributes poured in from all quarters of the Bengali film fraternity.
After Suchitra Sen, Mithu Mukherjee was the one who could stir the hearts of Bengali youth in that era. This enchanting heroine was Mithu Mukherjee was, many producers believed that she as the female lead could turn any Bengali film into a superhit. A true example of this is the film Ashrita, starring Mithu Mukherjee.
For lovers of Bengali cinema in the seventies and eighties, her effortless acting and screen presence were deeply captivating. Her superb performances in timeless films like ‘Mouchak’, ‘Swayamsiddha’, ‘Marjina Abdulla’, ‘Nishikanya’, and ‘Shesh Parba’ will remain immortal in the hearts of audiences forever. She was the most cinematic, charming and lovely face on screen for nearly three decades.
If one watches Mithu Mukherjee in Basu Chatterjee’s Hindi film ‘Dillagi’, one can see how astonishingly lovely she looks! With her passing, yet another bright star of the golden age of Bengali cinema has faded away. She was a forever-familiar face in the hearts of Bengali audience.
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Here are the top five films for which Mithu Mukherjee will be remembered forever:
Shesh Parba (1971) — This was where it all began. Chitta Bose gave Mithu Mukherjee her first break on the big screen with this film, introducing audiences to a fresh face who would go on to become one of the most beloved leading ladies of Bengali cinema. It was a modest first step, but one that set the stage for a screen journey lasting nearly twenty years — through romance, drama, and box-office hits that defined an era.
Marjina Abdulla (1973) — Directed by Dinen Gupta, this was the breakout role of her career. Playing the title character Marjina — a clever, spirited heroine drawn from Arabian Nights lore — she brought a magnetic screen presence that turned her into an overnight star. It’s widely regarded as her defining performance, the one that established her as a leading lady of Bengali cinema.
Mouchak (1974) — Riding high on the success of Marjina Abdulla, she followed up with this hit, proving her stardom was no one-off. It was one of several films in this stretch that kept her firmly in the spotlight, solidifying her status as one of the most sought-after leading ladies in Tollywood through the 1970s.
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Ashrita (1990) — Her career hit a rough patch in 1984 when Dujane failed to connect with audiences, and she stepped away from acting altogether for the next seven years. When she finally returned, it was in style — Chandra Barot’s Ashrita turned out to be a major commercial success, giving her a triumphant note to close her filmography on, as it would be the last film she ever appeared in.
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Khaan Dost (1976) — She wasn’t content to stay confined to Bengali cinema alone. This film marked her entry into Bollywood, directed by Dulal Guha and starring alongside Shatrughan Sinha, and demonstrated that her appeal reached well beyond the regional industry she’d made her name in.
