I know Suchitra Sen means many things to many people but for me, and this may sound a little strange, she is an astonishing beauty. I remember her as this beautiful woman whose films I used to watch as a boy growing up in Calcutta.

Also, there was a schoolteacher feel to her every time she came on screen. I don’t know why but it must be her body language and the serious roles she used to do. And whenever she appeared, it was like we all have to be well-mannered. You can say Suchitra Sen used to command respect with her presence.

For many, Suchitra Sen is one half of the Uttam-Suchitra duo but I strongly believe that she was an icon in her own right. That the two worked so brilliantly as a pair on screen is because they were so good to look at. On their own and together. They were two very good-looking people.

And, of course, they were fine actors and they could make their relationships and chemistry look believable film after film. They also got to work with very good directors and storytellers leading to many successful films.

That Suchitra Sen chose to not appear in public after her career at the movies was an entirely personal decision and I am nobody to comment on it. Was it vanity or was it a strategy is something one can speculate but one should respect her decision.

For me, my relationship with her ended with her films. That’s the Suchitra Sen I knew and that’s the Suchitra Sen I will remember. That beautiful woman in those black-and-white films from my childhood.

Sujoy is the maker of Kahaani and other films