Suchitra Sen – An Astro-obituary

Suchitra Sen

Suchitra Sen (6 April 1931 – 17 January 2014), was an Indian actress who acted in several Bengali films that mainly concentrated in the regions of Bengal and Bangladesh. In particular, the movies in which she paired opposite another legend in Bengali films, Uttam Kumar, became classics in the history of Bengali cinema. Known as the Greta Garbo of India for leading a reclusive life after she left films, Sen was an iconic star of regional Bengali cinema.

A chart drawn for the Sun’s entry into Capricorn at any location is considered by many astrologers as the Annual Chart for that place. In this chart drawn for Calcutta we see Venus station retrograde in the mundane 5^th house. This is a house associated with theatres, films and entertainment so that by association it is linked to actors. Venus refers to actresses and beauty queens while retrogrades refer to the past. [1]. It was conjunct the star 46 Draconis of Draco [29cp52]. Draco presides over theatre and films so that we have actors Lon Chaney, James Dean, Basil Rathbone, Walter Slezak, James Earl Jones, Olivia de Havilland, Richard Burton, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Deborah Kerr, De Forrest Kelly and several others with placements here.

On 17^th January, the transiting Sun [27cp] conjoins Venus [28cp] in the mundane 5^th while the angles of the progressed Capsolar align with the Uranus-Pluto square – a combination associated with the end of an old order. Coincidentally, Suchitra Sen has her  radix  Uranus[15ar] square Pluto [18cn] with Sun [15ar] conjunct Uranus [15ar] and the star Altais, delta Draco. She also has a Venus opposite Neptune.  

Neptune dissolves the boundaries between illusion and “ordinary” common sense reality. Film-makers, actors and novelists are ruled by Neptune, since their work is of an illusionary nature. The ability to discern and appreciate subtlety is one of the main gifts of the Neptunian principle. This is one of the reasons why those whose charts are strongly touched by this planet are often very creative or artistic since Neptune heightens perception. [3]

Venus-Neptune yearns for an ethereal beauty and has a difficult  time accepting reality. In doing so they feel  they will fall short of some kind of a vision they or others have of them. This may be one of the reasons why Suchitra Sen had become a recluse shunning public gaze towards the end of her life and even in death the public was not allowed to see her. 

So it was only appropriate that a chart drawn for  Jan 17,2014; 8:25 am IST, Calcutta, the date and time of death has Neptune exactly rising on the horizon [3pi] at Calcutta opposite the actor’s radix Neptune [3vi].

[1] Venus retrograde and the death of a former beauty queen

[2] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.2, p.527)

[3] http://www.johnhayes.biz/planets/planetsNeptune.htm