Mithu Mukherjee

Mithu Mukherjee was an Indian actress of Bengali and Hindi cinema whose screen career stretched from the early 1970s to 1990. Born in Kolkata on 19 June 1955, she entered films as a teenager and became one of the recognisable faces of commercial Bengali cinema in that decade, later crossing into Bollywood before stepping away from the industry for a quieter life in Mumbai.

She made her debut in the Bengali film Shesh Parba (often dated 1971 or 1972), directed by Chitta Bose and opposite Samit Bhanja. Stardom followed when she played Marjina in Dinen Gupta's Marjina Abdulla, a popular take on the Ali Baba story that established her as a leading actress. She went on to work opposite major Bengali stars, including Soumitra Chattopadhyay in Nishikanya and Ranjit Mallick in Mouchak (1974), a film that later became the title with which many obituaries identified her. Further Bengali successes of the mid 1970s included Swayamsiddha opposite Mallick, while high profile 1976 pairings with Uttam Kumar in Hotel Snow Fox and Chander Kachhakachhi were commercially disappointing.

Mukherjee also worked in Hindi cinema. She made her Bollywood debut in Dulal Guha's Khaan Dost (1976) opposite Shatrughan Sinha, and later appeared in Basu Chatterjee films including Safed Jhooth (also known as Safed Jhoot), Dillagi and Do Ladke Dono Kadke. In Bengali cinema she continued through family dramas such as Pratima, Bhagyachakra, Bandhan and Sandhi, and in 1981 played a deaf mute rape victim in Father. She also acted in the Odia remake Jwain Pua (1982), based on Mouchak.

After the commercial failure of Dujane in the mid 1980s she took a long break from the screen. A delayed home production, originally titled Ranga Bhanga Chand and later released as Ashrita (1990) under Chandra Barot's direction, opposite Kanwaljit Singh, proved a commercial success and became her final film. She then largely withdrew from public life and had been living in Mumbai for several years.

Her aunt was the Hindi film actress Anita Guha; her niece is named in biographical sources as Ritu Das. Colleagues remembered her for beauty, screen presence and a distinctive place in 1970s and 1980s Bengali popular cinema.

Mithu Mukherjee died late on Sunday 20 September 2026 at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, aged 71, after a prolonged battle with cancer. Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and the All Indian Cine Workers Association were among those who paid public tribute. She was 71.