People visiting the ancestral house of Suchitra Sen in Pabna return disappointed due to the very small collection of memorabilia and lack of maintenance of the house.

Suchitra Sen, a legendary actress of Bangla cinema, was born in her maternal grandfather's residence on April 6 in 1931 at Bhangabari of Sirajganj and grew up at her ancestral house in Gopalpur Hem Sagor Lane in Pabna town.

She passed away on January 17 in 2014 in Kolkata.

Today is the fifth death anniversary of Suchitra Sen. Pabna district administration and different organisations have chalked out programmes to commemorate the legendary actress at her hometown.

Visitors watch photographs depicting the life and works of the legendary actress. Photo: Star

Suchitra and her family members left Pabna for Kolkata before partition of India. Since then, the historic house had been abandoned till 1987, when a pro-Jamaat-e-Islam organisation occupied it and established Imam Gazzali School.

Amidst the demand of the people, Pabna district administration freed the house from occupation after a long legal battle on July 16 in 2014 and established Suchitra Sen Smrity Shangrahashala (archive) on April 6, in 2017.

There is a statue of Suchitra in front of the building and the Shangrahashala is full of pictures from her films. There is also a room for watching her films.

“The kitchen and the family temple were destroyed for construction of classrooms by the occupying organisation,” said Jakir Hossain, one of the leading people of the movement for freeing the house.

“Although it is called Shangrahashala, there are no memorabilia except some pictures,” Sarmila Akter Shammi, a final year student of Honours from Gaibanda said after visiting the house.

Caretaker of the archive Md Nuruzzaman said 20 to 30 people, including a few foreigners, visit the house every day, and the number is more during holidays.

 “Visitors are often not satisfied as there are not enough items and on seeing the damaged house,” he added.

A damaged and uncared for portion of the house. Photo: Star

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Jasim Uddin said the district administration has taken initiative to make the archive rich but they have not got any collection till now.

“We have requested people to donate anything related to Suchitra Sen, but there has been no response,” the DC said.

The DC said they have a plan to construct a new building, keeping the original structure of the historic house, for setting up a film archive.

They have submitted a proposal to the ministry of cultural affairs for the development work, the DC said, adding that the conscious people of Pabna have the responsibility to come forward for the sake of the heritage of the district.