Karuna Banerjee

Career Banerjee's acting career expanded over more than two decades in Bengali cinema and theatre. She is best known for her memorable performance as Sarbajaya, the mother in the first two parts of Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956). Her performance in the latter earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1959 BAFTA Awards. She acted in a few more films, including two more by Ray, two by Mrinal Sen, and one by Ritwik Ghatak that was never officially released.

Filmography

Mahakavi Kalidas (1942, directed by Niren Lahiri) Pather Panchali (1955, directed by Satyajit Ray) as Sarbojaya Ray Aparajito (1956, directed by Satyajit Ray) as Sarbojaya Ray Manmoyee Girls' School (1958, directed by Hemchandra Chunder) Headmaster (1959, directed by Agragami) as Labanya Kato Ajanare (1959, directed by Ritwik Ghatak) Shubha Bibaha (1959, directed by Sombhu Mitra and Amit Maitra) as Meja-boudi Devi (1960, directed by Satyajit Ray) as Harasundari Kanchenjungha (1962, directed by Satyajit Ray) as Labanya Roy Chaudhuri To Light a Candle (1970, directed by Shanti P. Chowdhury) Interview (1971, directed by Mrinal Sen) as Ma Calcutta 71 (1972, directed by Mrinal Sen) Sandhya Raag (1977, directed by Bhabendra Nath Saikia) (final film role)