Raja Sen

Raja Sen was from Kolkata, West Bengal. Wikipedia gives his date of birth as 10 November 1955, although news reports of his death gave his age as 71. Few details of his childhood and education have been published.

Sen began with documentary films about the leading personalities of Bengal's art and culture. His documentary on Rabindra Sangeet singer Suchitra Mitra won the National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film in 1993. Other documentaries included Filmmaker for Freedom, about the director Tapan Sinha; a three hour documentation of the theatre artist Sombhu Mitra for the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre; films on the poet Subhas Mukhopadhyay, the writers Jyotirmoyee Devi and Samaresh Basu, and the folk form Alkaap; and Itihasher Kolkata, five episodes on the city's heritage.

His first feature film, Damu (1996), starring Raghuvir Yadav, won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film, the Shiromoni Award for best film and an audience award at the Dhaka International Film Festival. Atmiyo Swajan (1999), with Soumitra Chatterjee, Supriya Devi and Rituparna Sengupta, won the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare and was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival.

His later features included Chakrabyuhya (2000), Desh (2002) with Jaya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, Debipaksha (2004), Viswa O Arjun (2006), Krishnakanter Will (2007), Tinmurti (2009), Laboratory (2010), which was Raveena Tandon's first Bengali film, Moubone Aaj (2011), Colonel (2012) and Maya Mridanga (2016).

On television he first received recognition for the teleserial Subarnalata (1997). He followed it with Adarsha Hindu Hotel, Arogya Niketan, Kolkata Kolkata, Samparka, Anirban, Anjuman and Tarasankarer Chhoto Galpo, along with episodes of Desh Amaar Desh.

Sen was married to the Bengali actress Papiya Sen, who appeared in his film Atmiyo Swajan. They had two daughters, Subhasree and Sreyoshi.

Raja Sen died at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on Sunday 16 August 2026 after a prolonged illness. News agency reports gave his age as 71; Wikipedia's birth date of 10 November 1955 would make him 70.

According to sources at the hospital quoted by PTI, he had first been admitted to a private hospital after an injury to his lower back. His condition deteriorated there and he developed lung and cardiac complications. He was moved to the state run SSKM Hospital on the Monday before his death, where he developed kidney complications and was on ventilator support. A senior doctor said his condition had remained critical despite treatment. His death was reported by PTI, India Today, the Indian Express and the Economic Times.

Sen's three National Film Awards spanned documentary, children's cinema and family drama, and Damu remains his best known work. His documentaries form a record of several of the most important figures in 20th century Bengali culture, from Suchitra Mitra and Sombhu Mitra to Tapan Sinha and Subhas Mukhopadhyay, and his adaptations brought classic Bengali literature to a television audience.