Ailing actress Suchitra Sen, who has been a recluse for the past three decades and undergoing treatment at a city hospital, today made an exception for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and met her.
After the 82-year-old screen goddess, who is often compared to Hollywood legend Greta Garbo for being a recluse, expressed her desire to meet the Chief Minister, the latter went to the private hospital where she is admitted following a respiratory tract infection.
Stating that her health was now improving gradually, Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page, "Let us all pray to God for her early recovery and good health."
Doctors attending to her said her health is now serious but stable as she has partially responded to intermittent non-invasive ventilation.
The oxygen saturation level in her blood has improved compared to the previous days but it remains a cause of concern for the doctors.
"I am undoubtedly fortunate enough to get an opportunity to meet her in person. I am overwhelmed and proud to meet the legendary actress whose films we had seen so many times. It is an emotional moment," Banerjee wrote.
On Friday, she had visited the hospital and met her actress-daughter Moon Moon Sen, Dr Subrata Moitra and his medical team but left without meeting the actress at the ITU cabin.
"Later on, when she became little stable and came to know that I had visited the nursing home to enquire about her health, she expressed her desire to meet me. Dr Moitra communicated her desire and accordingly I rushed to the hospital and met her for about 25 minutes today. I also met Moon Moon Sen, Raima Sen, Dr Moitra and others," Banerjee said.
Sen, who had refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005 so that she did not have to make a public appearance, stays confined to her south Kolkata apartment.
Only a handful of people, mainly her family members, have seen the actress face to face in the last 30 years.
Banerjee said everyone knows that the actress has kept herself away from public view for more than 30 years and she is not even meeting anyone now. Besides her daughter, Sen's granddaughters Riya and Raima (both actors) have been the only ones meeting her at the hospital.
