Rachna Banerjee

Rachna Banerjee (born Jhumjhum Banerjee; 2 October 1972) known by the mononym Rachana, is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, television presenter and politician. She is known primarily for her works in Bengali and Odia films, besides a few Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada films.

Being crowned the 1991 Miss Kolkata, she has also won five beauty contests in India including Miss Beautiful Smile at the Miss India contest. She is currently serving as the Member of Parliament for Hooghly (Lok Sabha constituency) from West Bengal since June 2024.

Early life
Banerjee was born on 2 October 1972 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, and was her parents' only child. Her father was Rabindranath Banerjee. Her original name was Jhumjhum Banerjee, and was changed to Rachana by Sukhen Das, the director of her debut film Daan Pratidaan (1993). She completed her higher secondary education from National Girls' High School.

Modelling career (1991-1992)
Banerjee won the Miss Kolkata contest in 1991 when she was still in her second year of graduation course from South City College. She entered several beauty pageants before starting her acting career and was often declared 'Miss Beautiful Smile'. In 1992 she missed out of the Miss India contest grand finale where Madhu Sapre was crowned the title.

Acting career (1993-2017)
Sukhen Das chose Banerjee for the female lead in his directorial venture Dan Pratidan (1993). He changed her name to Rachana (which Das found in 'Rabindra Rachanabali'). Rachana has done around 45 oriya movies to date.She appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan in the film Sooryavansham, one of the cult movies of its era.

Hosting Didi No. 1
Apart from acting, Banerjee is also hosting the Bengali non-fiction TV show, Didi No. 1, which is aired on Zee Bangla on weekdays. On 5 April 2013 a fire broke out in the studio of Didi No. 1 at Tollygunge, and she fainted following a panic attack and was rushed to a city hospital (Aurobindo Seva Sadan).

Personal life
Rachna Banerjee married her co-star Sidhant Mohapatra and divorced him in 2004. She married Probal Basu in 2007 and separated from him in 2016. They have a son.

Awards

 * Kalakar Awards
 * Bharat Nirman Award
 * Odia State Film Award
 * Special Film Award by West Bengal State Govt
 * Tele Samman Award
 * ETV Bangla Film Award
 * Zee Bangla Sonar Songsar Award 2015

Political career
Banerjee contested as All India Trinamool Congress candidate from the Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency seat against Bharatiya Janata Party's sitting M.P Locket Chatterjee in the 2024 Indian general election and won by a margin of 76,853 votes.