Five Strong Female Characters In Suchitra Bhattacharya’s Novels

Suchitra Bhattacharya was one of the most powerful and popular novelists of contemporary Bengali literature. She wrote mainly about the social issues that affect the urban middle class. Bhattacharya also highlighted the sufferings women go through on a day to day basis. Many of her life experiences can be seen in her works.

Suchitra Bhattacharya was enthusiastic about other contemporary female authors such as Sangita Bandyopadhyay and Tilottama Majumdar and was influenced by feminist authors such as Ashapoorna Devi and Mahasweta Devi.

Here is a list of five strong female characters Suchitra Bhattacharya created.

1. Jhinuk (Dahan)

Jhinuk is a young primary school teacher who rescues a housewife (Romita) and her husband (Palash) from being harassed on the street by a group of men. Though several travellers are witness to the scene, she is the only one who dares to help. She also assists Romita and Palash to get an FIR filed against the men. Jhinuk goes against her family to ensure that justice is bestowed on them. The criminals are, however, not penalised because one of them happens to have a strong political background.

Picture By: Tarshi

2. Indrani (Kaccher Manush)

Indrani is the protagonist of the novel. She is flawed, vulnerable and real. Though a married woman, she has a child outside wedlock. She is sexually liberated and stands by her own decisions. The men in her life depend on her emotionally and are supportive. Keeping in mind that we live in a society that judges women based on their clothes and marital status, Indrani is a strong and independent female character.

3. Aditi (Hemanter Pakhi)

Aditi is a woman in her 40s. Her dream of becoming an author is suppressed by her marriage and her requirement to be a "good wife". However, she does choose to dream again and takes up writing as her career, twenty-three years after her marriage. Though she gets appreciated and is supported by many, it brings major twists and turns in her life. Her husband doubts her and questions her character. Her story is the story of every other woman in Indian society.

4. Mitin Maashi (Mitin Maashi Samaghra)

Mitin Mashi’s original name is Pragyaparamita Mukherjee. She is a private detective in her id 30s and is fond of cooking. Mitin prefers to use her mind rather than her revolver. Whereas, most of the detective stories revolve around male protagonists, Bhattacharya’s novels on Mitin Mashi stand out as she chooses a female detective for her stories.

5. Tannistha (Anyo Basanta)

Tannistha is the prime character in the story. She is torn emotionally between two young men. One of them, Kaushik who has no real-life goal and desires strongly to discover a perfume product about which the story started. Tannishtha finds a strange resemblance between him and her father. The ending of the novel is a poignant one and moves us to tears.

Suchitra Bhattacharya left us in 2015 but her works continue to inspire all her readers. Apart from the novels mentioned in the list, she has also written books such as Kacher Dewal, Alochhaya, Neel Ghurni and so on.

 What is your favourite Suchitra Bhattacharya novel and which of her female characters do you love the most?