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Ruma Guha Thakurta Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 14, 2026 • 4 min read

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Quick Info

Date of birth21 November 1934

Age84 Years (at time of death)

BirthplaceCalcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India)

ProfessionSinger, Actress

NationalityIndian

Marital statusWidow

SpouseKishore Kumar; Arup Guha Thakurta

FamilyChildren: Amit Kumar Ganguly, Ayan Guha Thakurta, Sromona

Ruma Guha Thakurta Biography

Ruma Guha Thakurta was an Indian singer and actress who left a lasting mark on Bengali cinema and choral music. Founder of the Calcutta Youth Choir, she is

Early life and background
Ruma Guha Thakurta was born on 21 November 1934 in Calcutta, then part of the Bengal Presidency under British India. Music ran in her family: her parents, Satyen (Monty) Ghosh and Sati Devi, were musicians who ran a music school called Swarbitan in Kolkata. She studied at several schools including Loreto School and Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School in Kolkata and Sacred Heart School in Lahore, and pursued further training in the performing arts at institutions such as the Almora Academy of Uday Shankar and Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan. Her musical education included formal training under Abdul Rehman Khan of the Patiala Gharana.

Career
Ruma began working in film as a child, appearing at around age ten in Amiya Chakravarty’s Jwar Bhata (1944), a movie that also marked the screen debut of Dilip Kumar. She moved between Hindi and Bengali cinema over the decades, appearing in Hindi films in the 1950s and making her Bengali film debut in 1959 with Khaniker Atithi. That same year she starred in Ganga, a film that won the National Award for Best Feature Film, and her performance as the character Himi drew critical attention.

In the early 1960s she continued to appear in notable Bengali films and broadened her involvement in production. After marrying director Arup Guha Thakurta, she produced Benarasi (1962), which received recognition from the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association. Her filmography includes acclaimed titles such as Abhijaan (1962), Palatak (1963), Antony Firingee (1967), Ganashatru (1989) and Wheelchair (1994). She later appeared in Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006), playing the mother of the character Ashoke.

Ruma’s contributions were not limited to film. She established the Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958 alongside collaborators including Salil Choudhury and Satyajit Ray. The troupe combined song and dance to present folk and mass songs and became a prominent cultural ensemble in India. Under her leadership the choir won first prize at the Copenhagen Youth Festival in 1974 and represented Indian choral work abroad. The group performed on high-profile occasions such as Nelson Mandela’s visit to Kolkata in 1990 and the first anniversary celebrations of Bangladesh’s liberation in Dhaka. They also sang for visiting dignitaries, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, and marked national milestones such as performances in honor of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in 1998.

Public profile
Ruma’s work in cinema and music brought her awards and recognition. She received the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) award for her role in Niranjan Saikate (1965), and the choir she founded earned international honors. She was associated with cultural figures of her time and maintained connections with a wide artistic circle; she was related on her maternal side to the independence leader Chittaranjan Das and was a niece of Bijoya Ray.

Personal life
Ruma married twice. Her first marriage was to singer Kishore Kumar, with whom she had a son, Amit Kumar Ganguly. The couple separated in 1958. She later married Arup Guha Thakurta, with whom she had two children, Ayan Guha Thakurta and a daughter, Sromona, who is also a singer. Ruma practiced the Brahmo Samaj faith and belonged to the Kayastha community. Physically, family records list her height as approximately 165 cm (about 5'5") and weight around 70 kg.

Later years and death
Ruma Guha Thakurta remained active in cultural life through the Calcutta Youth Choir and occasional film work into the 2000s. She died on 3 June 2019 at her residence in Ballygunge Place, Kolkata, at the age of 84. State honours accompanied her final rites at the Keoratola crematorium in Kolkata, and public acknowledgements of condolence were sent by figures including President Ram Nath Kovind.

Latest updates
Ruma’s legacy lives on through the continued performances and repertoire of the Calcutta Youth Choir and through the films that keep her work in public view. Her contributions to choral music in India and to Bengali cinema are frequently recalled in discussions of post-independence cultural life.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Ruma Guha Thakurta, send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded

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Recent Work

The Namesake

Played the mother of Ashoke in Mira Nair’s film (2006)

2006
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Career Highlights

  1. Founded the Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958
  2. Won IFFI (Female) for Niranjan Saikate (1965)
  3. Calcutta Youth Choir won first prize at Copenhagen Youth Festival (1974)
  4. Produced Benarasi, which won BFJA Best Feature Film (1963)
Reviewed by F4U Editorial Desk

F4U profile pages are prepared from public career information, checked for readability, and updated when reliable correction sources are shared with the editorial team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Ruma Guha Thakurta born?

Ruma Guha Thakurta was born on 21 November 1934.

What is Ruma Guha Thakurta known for?

Ruma Guha Thakurta is known for singer, Actress.

What is Ruma Guha Thakurta’s marital status?

Ruma Guha Thakurta's marital status is listed as Widow.

Who is Ruma Guha Thakurta married to?

Ruma Guha Thakurta is publicly listed as married to Kishore Kumar; Arup Guha Thakurta.