Swastika Mukherjee

Swastika Mukherjee (born 14 December 1979) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Bengali and Hindi films and television. She is the daughter of actor Santu Mukhopadhyay.

Mukherjee made her screen debut with Devdasi, a Bengali TV series. She made her big screen debut with Hemanter Pakhi (2001). Her first leading role came with Mastan (2004), opposite Jeet. She made her Hindi film debut with Mumbai Cutting (2008). She is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards East including a record of three wins for Best Actress

Early life
Mukherjee spent her childhood in a self-described "simple life" with her father Santu Mukhopadhyay, younger sister Ajopa, and mother Gopa. Her favorite films were Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She was educated at Carmel School, Kolkata, St. Teresa's Secondary School, and Gokhale Memorial School.

Personal life
In 1998 at the age of 18, she married Promit Sen, son of Rabindra Sangeet singer Sagar Sen. The marriage was an unhappy one and lasted two years. Swastika accused Promit of physically abusing her and locking her out of their home when she was pregnant. She filed a charge against him for cruelty and solicitation of dowry. These charges were subsequently dismissed and Promit was acquitted.

Swastika later filed an affidavit in court stating that her accusations were 'unfounded, false, baseless and speculative,' before confessing in a media conference that they were false. Consequently, Promit's brother sued her for damages in Calcutta High Court and she was held liable for ₹7.7 crore ($1.7 million). According to Mukherjee, Sen filed for divorce in 2000, but changed his mind when she became successful in her acting career. She had one daughter from the marriage, Anwesha, born in 2000.

Career
In 2001, Mukherjee enrolled at the Ananda Shankar Centre for Culture, learning dance from veteran Tanusree Shankar. During the filming of Mastan, she began dating her co-star Jeet. They went on to appear in several films together, including Kranti, Sathihara, Priyotoma, Krishnakanter Will, Pitribhumi and Partner. She later began a relationship with Parambrata Chatterjee on the set of Brake Fail. As she was still lawfully married to Pramit Sen, he filed a charge against Chatterjee for criminal adultery and enticement of a married woman. They separated in 2010 when Chatterjee moved to Bristol.

Controversies
In May 2014, Mukherjee was hospitalised after an alleged suicide attempt. Under strong local protest, Kolkata police detained Mukherjee's boyfriend Suman Mukhopadhyay.