Written by Anisha Ghosh

Wearing a pair of shorts and a black full-sleeved shirt, a middle-aged woman with paper and pen sat on the roadside near Amila Bazar in West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district on Monday afternoon, speaking incoherently in Bengali and English. A few hours later, after the local people identified her as Sumi Har Choudhury, a former film and TV actress, the police confirmed her identity

“Choudhury, who was spotted wandering along the Bardhaman-Arambagh state highway, has been sent to a shelter home and efforts are on to trace her family,” said Abhishek Mandal, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Bardhaman Sadar South. He mentioned that a message has been passed on to the Behala police station in Kolkata.

According to her social media profile, Choudhury worked as a side character in popular Bengali films such as Dwitiyo Purush and Khashi Katha: A Goat Saga starring Naseeruddin Shah and in TV serials such as Rupsagore Moner Manush and Tumi Ashe Pashe Thakle.

To the local people who approached her as she took shelter from the rain at a roadside rest spot at Khandaghosh, she said, “I’m Sumi Har Choudhury, an actress”. The residents soon searched her name online and found her social media profile, confirming she was indeed who she claimed to be.

“She seemed mentally disturbed, but kept repeating she acted in serials. At first, we didn’t believe her. Then we found her photos online,” said one of the local people who helped her.

Choudhury said she came from Kolkata, while at other times she claimed to be from Bolpur. According to the police, once a resident of Behala in Kolkata, the former actress might have lived in Bolpur in Birbhum district for some time. However, how she arrived in Khandaghosh on Purba Bardhaman is yet not known. Attempts to find out how the former actress ended up in this condition were unsuccessful.

(Anisha Ghosh is an intern with The Indian Express)