Tara Sundari

Tara Sundari (1878-1948) an actress, started her career in 1884 by joining the Star Theatre where she first played the role of a boy in Chaitanya Lila by girish chandra ghosh and the role of Gopal in another play titled Sarala. Binodini played a part in her joining the theatre. Her talent earned her the role of the principal character in no time. She was adjudged as one of the best actresses of the time after her performance in the role of Shaibalini in Chandrashekhar in 1894. Amritalal Mitra taught her acting, Ramtaran Sanyal singing and Kashinath Chattopadhyay dancing.

Tara Sundari joined the Classic Theatre, run by famous actor and playwright Amarendranath Datta, in 1897, and earned accolades for her performances in a number of plays. After the death of her son in 1922, she quit acting and went to Bhuvaneshwar to found a monastery and engage herself in religious practices. But after a few days, she again started acting in Kolkata at the request of Girish Chandra Ghosh and played the role of Ayesha in Durgeshnandini, Shaivya in Harishchandra, the role of the eponymic character in Ramanuj, Saraswati in Balidan and the central character in Rizia.

Tara Sundari also worked with shishir kumar bhaduri in a number of plays during the formative years of the Bangla Theatre. She reached the peak of her fame for her role as Jana in Jana, Udipuri in Alamgirand as Durga in Shri Durga (1926) at the Mitra Theatre. [Wahida Mallik]