Ruma Guha Thakurta (1934-2019) was a veteran Indian singer and actor. She mainly worked in Bengali films but she worked in Hindi films for a few years before switching to this field. In 1950, she married Kishore Kumar. In 1958, she founded the Calcutta Youth Choir, India’s oldest choir. She has worked with renowned directors such as Satyajit Ray, Tarun Majumdar, Tapan Sinha and Mira Nair. She died in 2019.
Wiki/Biography
Ruma Guha Thakurta was born Ruma Ghosh on Saturday, November 21, 1934, in Calcutta, Bengal Territory, British India (now Calcutta, West Bengal, India) (age 84; at the time of death). Her zodiac sign is Scorpio. She completed her primary education in Loreto and then her upper primary education in Gokhale School and then her primary education in Sacred Heart School, Lahore. Ruma Guha went to Almora College of Uday Shankar in Almora to learn dance from him. To study music, she went to Swarabithan School in Kolkata, founded by her parents. Later, she trained under Abdul Rehman Khan of the Patiala tribe to perfect her art. She is an alumnus of Visva Bharati University.
appearance
Weight (approximately): 75kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Ruma Guha Thakurta belongs to the Kayastha community.
Parents and siblings
Ruma Guha was born to Satyen Ghosh and Sati Devi. They are all artists. Sati Devi is a famous singer. Sati Devi’s sister Bijoya Ray married Satyajit Ray. Ruma’s parents ran Swarabithan, a music school in Kolkata. She is the only child of her parents.
husband and children
Ruma Guha married Kishore Kumar in 1950, the youngest child of the iconic Ganguly family. The couple has a son, Amit Kumar, who is a famous singer. Ruma and Kishore lived together for 8 years; however, they parted ways in 1958. Kishore Kumar once revealed the reason for divorce. He said,
She is a very talented person but we can’t get along because we have different perspectives on life. She wanted to start a choir and start her own business. I want someone to build me a home. How can the two reconcile? You see, I am a simple-minded villager. I don’t understand the female entrepreneurship thing. A wife must first learn how to start a family. How to combine the two together? Career and family are completely different things. That’s why we parted ways. ”
Ruma Guha with Kishore Kumar and son Amit Kumar
In 1960, Ruma married Arup Guha Thakurta again. Arup Guha Thakurta is a film director. The couple has two children, a son Ayan and a daughter Sromona. Sromona Guha Thakurta (Sharamana) is also a famous Bengali singer.
Ruma Guha (front row, first from left) with her husband Arup Guha Thakurta and children
Ruma Guha and her son Amit Kumar
religion
Ruma Guha and her family tend to Brahmo Samaj.
Profession
Movie
Guha moved to Bombay in the 1940s. She made her acting debut at the age of 10 in Amiya Chakravarty’s Jawar Bhata (1944). This is also the debut film of Dilip Kumar.
Jawar Bhatta(1944)
From 1950 to 1958, she appeared in several Hindi films such as “Mashaal”, “Afsar” and “Rag Rang”. After her divorce, she returned to Kolkata and started her career in Bengali films. She made her debut in the Bengali film industry in 1959 with Khaniker Atithi. In the same year, she starred in Ganga, another film produced by Rajen Tarafdar; Ganga won the National Award for Best Feature Film that year, and Ruma’s performance as Himi also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. It received critical acclaim. After marrying Arup Guha Thakurta, she produced Benarasi in 1962, directed by her husband Arup Guha. The film won the 1963 Bangladesh Film Journalists Association Award (BFJA Award) for Best Feature Film.
Ganga 1960 starring Ruma Guha Thakurta (front row, first from left)
From 1960 to 2006, she appeared in many Bengali films. In 1963, she played the role of “Chhoto Bou” in “Nirjan Saikate” and won the IFFI Award. Before 2006, she had been active in the film industry. “The Namesake” (directed by Meera Nair) was her last film, in which she played the mother of Irrfan Khan (Ashoke).
The film of the same name starring Ruma Guha Thakurta (2006)
She also starred in Satyajit Ray’s Abhijaan (1962), Palatak (1963), Antony Firingee (1967), 80 Te Asio Na (1967), Balika Badhu (1967), Dadar Kirti (1980), Chowringhee Lane 36 (1981), Amrita Kumbher Sandhane (1982), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), Ganashatru (1989) and Wheelchair (1994). In 1989, Ganashatru was nominated for an Oscar.
Sing
Ruma Guha takes Indian choral singing to new heights with the Kolkata Youth Choir. In 1958, she co-founded the Calcutta Youth Choir, a song and dance group specializing in folk and mass songs, along with Salil Chaudhary and Satyajit Ray. Salil Chaudhary is known as the father of Indian choir. He founded the Bombay Chorus during his tenure at IPTA (Indian People’s Theater Association) but he was too busy to focus on that so he handed the baton to Ruma Guha, Ruma Guha Milestones were created in the coming years with the help of Satyajit Ray. The Kolkata Youth Choir also traveled to perform international songs. From Bhupen Hazarika and Rabindranath Tagore to Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte ), the Calcutta Youth Choir adapts and celebrates every genre of singing.
Calcutta Youth Choir singing on stage
Under her guidance, the Calcutta Youth Choir won first prize at the Copenhagen Youth Music Festival in 1974. On the historic occasion of Nelson Mandela’s visit to Kolkata in 1990, they performed “Shwagato Mandela” at the Eden Gardens.Luma later said in an interview that the song was prepared in one night
Nelson Mandela in the Garden of Eden 1990
On April 9, 2012, she hosted and directed her final show there.
Ruma Guha Thakurta attends the 50th anniversary event of Kolkata Youth Choir
Ruma Guha is also known as a playback singer, having sung for films ranging from “Lukochori” in 1958 and “Tin Konya” in 1961 to “Bakso Badal” in 1970 and “Mera Dharam Meri Maa” in 1976 .
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 1982, she was awarded the Nehru Peace Prize for Soviet Land.
- In 1963, Ganga won the Bangladesh Film Journalists Association Award (BFJA Award) for Best Feature Film.
- In 1965, she won the IFFI (International Film Festival of India Award; Female) for “Niranjan Saikate”.
- In 1974, the Youth Choir won first prize at the Copenhagen Youth Music Festival.
die
Ruma Guha Thakurta passed away on June 3, 2019, at his Ballygunje Place residence in Kolkata. She suffered from many diseases associated with old age. She left behind two sons and a daughter.
rest in peace #RumaGuhaThakurta.
She is a Bengali actress and singer. In this video, she sings “Tu Zinda Hai, to zindagi ki jeet par yakeen kar”. In India, hymns and choir singing are linked to Vedic concepts, she said. #salilchoudhury It started with Indian movies. pic.twitter.com/wXrFO8mj7k
— Bollywooddirect (@Bollywoodirect) June 3, 2019
Ruma Guha Thakurta passes away
Facts/Trivia
- Indira Gandhi loved listening to the Calcutta Youth Choir. She is the one who has previously released the album ‘Waqt ki Aawaj’.
- The Kolkata Youth Choir led by Ruma Guha Thakurta celebrated the first anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh in Dhaka.
- The Calcutta Youth Choir also welcomed Cuban President Fidel Castro to India in the 1990s.
- To commemorate Amartya Sen’s Nobel Prize in Economics, the Calcutta Youth Choir sang a song in 1998.
- President Ram Nath Kovind wrote to Ruma’s son Amit Kumar to express his condolences on the death of his mother.
Presidential Note on Death of Ruma Guha Thakurta
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education