Rituparna Sengupta is a National Award-winning Indian actress and producer who is primarily seen in Bengali movies, and also has worked in a few Bangladeshi films. She is best known for her memorable performances in Bengali movies like Shwet Patharer Thala (1992), Dahan (1997), Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (2002), Teenkahon (2014) and Rajkahini (2015). Besides these, Rituparna has also acted in several Bollywood movies like Love Khichdi (2009), Bumm Bumm Bole (2010) and Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011).

EARLY LIFE
Rituparna was born to Prabir Sengupta and Nandita Sengupta in Kolkata, West Bengal. After completing her schooling at Mount Carmel School, she graduated in history from Lady Brabourne College. She subsequently enrolled for a post-graduate degree, but discontinued higher studies in pursuit of her acting career.

PERSONAL LIFE
The Bengali actress married her childhood love Sanjay Chakrabarti in 1999. They have a son named Ankan, and a daughter named Rishona Niya.

MOVIE CAREER
After appearing in a minor role in the Bengali version of Naga Panchami (1992), Rituparna went on to star in director Prabhat Roy`s Bengali film Shwet Patharer Thala in the same year, alongside Aparna Sen. Her exemplary performance in this Bengali drama won her the Kalakar Best Supporting Actress Award. In 1995, she made her Hindi movie debut with Partho Ghosh`s Teesra Kaun, starring alongside stars like Amol Palekar and Mithun Chakraborty. The actress followed this up with another Kalakar Award winning performance in the Bengali movie Abujh Mon (1996), which earned her praise from all quarters. The 1997 Bengali movie Dahan, which was directed by Rituparno Ghosh, saw the actress giving one of her career-best performances, and won her the National Film Award for Best Actress that year. In the same year, Rituparna appeared in her first Bangladeshi film titled Swami Keno Asami. She also won the Kalakar Special Award for her performance in the movie Moner Manush (1997), which saw the pair of Prosenjit-Rituparna prosper to new heights in Bengali cinema.

One of her other notable movies include the 2000 Bengali drama Paromitar Ek Din, which went on to win several national and international awards. Rituparna continued her association with Rituparno Ghosh and Prosenjit Chatterjee, through the Bengali family thriller drama Utsab, released in 2000. The actress depicted a bold character, that of a prostitute, in the 2002 Indian Bengali film Mondo Meyer Upakhyan, directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta. This movie was released in the French language as Chroniques Indiennes, and even got showcased in several international film festivals such as the Toronto Film Festival (2002), Cannes Film Festival (2003), and Karlovy Vary Film Festival (2003).

Her 2003 release Alo was based on a short story by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, and it managed to break several box office records. Rituparna played another lead role in a woman-centric Bengali movie Debipaksha (2004), for which she gained appreciation. In the following year, she played the role of a simple house-wife in the Hindi movie Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh alongside Rajpal Yadav and Kay Kay Menon. The film received critical acclaim as well as a good response from the audience.

In 2007, Rituparna paired opposite Atul Kulkarni in the critically acclaimed Hindi movie Gauri: The Unborn. She took up various challenging roles like the one of a young Hindu widow in the 2008 Bengali film Chaturanga, which was based on a novel by author Rabindranath Tagore. While her career in Bengali cinema kept scaling new heights, the actress continued her presence in Bollywood with movies like Love Khichdi (2009), the thriller Fox (2009) opposite Arjun Rampal and Sunny Deol, as well as David Dhawan`s multi-starrer comedy Do Knot Disturb (2009) alongside Govinda and Sushmita Sen.

In the year 2012, the actress delivered three hits in Bengali cinema including Muktodhara, directed by Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, the psychological thriller 3 Kanya and Charuulata 2011, based on Rabindranath Tagore`s novel Nashtanir. In the following year, she debuted in Malayalam cinema with Kadhaveedu (2013). Subsequently, Rituparna teamed up with the director duo of Shiboprasad and Nandita for the Bengali psychological thriller Alik Sukh (2013), which earned her the Bengali Filmfare Award for Best Actress that year.

In 2015, Rituparna managed to pull off a memorable performance as Begum Jaan in the drama film Rajkahini as part of an ensemble cast of 11 female characters including Saswata Chatterjee, Sudipta Chakraborty, Joya Ahsan, and Sohini Sarkar, to name a few. She won the Tele Cine Award for Best Actress for this movie. This was followed by the much-awaited comeback of the super-hit pair of Rituparna and Prosenjit, backed by the director duo of Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, in the movie Prakton. Among the seasoned actress` most recent film credits are the Bangladeshi movie Ekti Cinemar Golpo (2018), the acclaimed drama film Drishtikone (2018), the anthology film Rong Beronger Korhi (2018) and Basu Paribar (2018), where she starred alongside Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sen, Saswata Chatterjee and Jisshu Sengupta. Her other releases include Shah Jahan Regency (2019), Biddhrohini (2020) and The Parcel (2019). Her 2021 release includes the musical drama movie Bansuri, directed by Hari Viswanath. Her notable works include Prosenjit Weds Rituparna (2022), Mahishasur Marddini (2022), Achena Uttam (2022), Belashuru (2022), Hum Tumhein Chahte Hain (2023), Beautiful Life (2023), Datta (2023), Akorik (2023), Maayakumari (2023), Dabaru (2024) and Ajogyo (2024). Her other releases include Aamar Labangalata, Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen, Madam Sengupta and Goodbye Mountain.