Bengal Election: Meet Anjana Basu, Prominent Bengali Actor Being Fielded By BJP

Noted Bengali actor Anjana Basu is being fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the West Bengal assembly elections 2021. She will contest on the party ticket from Sonarpur South, South 24 Parganas district, facing up most prominently against her film industry colleague Lovely Moitra from Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Basu, based in Kolkata, has been associated with the saffron party since 2019. She is one of many female actors from the Bengali entertainment industry being given tickets this election season in Bengal. Both the BJP and primary opposition TMC have named distinguished personalities on their respective candidate lists.

From the BJP, alongside Basu, names include Locket Chatterjee, Tanusree Chakraborty and Payel Sarkar. Full list here. TMC on the other hand has numbered its list with youth leaders and actors that have pushed out over 20 sitting party MLAs. Names of actor inductees include June Maliah, Sayantika Banerjee and Sayani Ghosh. Full list of TMC women candidates here. 

Anjana Basu: A Look At Her Life And Career

While she is only a couple of years old in politics, Anjana Basu is a recognisable face in the film and television industry. Her screen debut came in 200o with Parokiya, a telefilm directed by Atanu Ghosh. Mainstream fame, however, came to her only with the Amol Palekar-directed Hindi show Krishnakali that aired on DD National.

Other projects she is best-known for include films Bye Bye Bangkok and Byomkesh Phire Elo, and television serials Bodhuboron and Debdas. 

Basu has once previously mentioned she has an acumen for listening to people's problems to offer them solutions. "The fact is, I am an ardent listener which helps me to come up with positive solutions," she said. She is described as an 'agony aunt' to her colleagues on the television sets she works on.

In 2019, she joined the BJP and has since alleged that she has been discriminated in the industry given her political affiliations. "One of my serials was taken off air and no producer has the courage to hire me for work since then ... This kind of things must end,” she says.

Image Credit: BCCL