Sabitri was born in 1937 in a small town of Kamalapur in Comilla District of present-day Bangladesh and is youngest among ten sisters. Her father Sashadhar Chatterjee worked in Indian Railways. During the partition of Bengal, young Sabitri was sent to the safety of an older, married sister's house in Kolkata located at Tollygunge – the hub of filmmaking in Kolkata.

Film career

She joined a theatre group Uttar Sarathi who were doing a play on the refugees from East Pakistan titled 'Natun Yahudi'. The play was being directed by Kanu Banerjee – the actor who would later perform as Harihar Roy, in Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali and Aparajito. Sabitri also acted the film version of the play which was released in 1953. Sabitri appeared as the female lead in Sudhir Mukherjee's comedy film Pasher Bari (1952).

Sabitri Chatterjee's next film assignment Subhada (1952) – a film based on a novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and directed by Niren Lahiri along with Chhabi Biswas and Pahari Sanyal. In this film she played the role of an unfortunate girl named Lalana. In the same year, she appeared in her first film opposite Uttam Kumar – the family drama Basu Parivar (1952) directed by Nirmal Dey, which had Supriya Devi in the role of Uttam Kumar's sister. Sabitri and Uttam Kumar had been friends since 1951, Uttam Kumar offered her to act in a theatrical production to be produced by his group Krishti O Srishti. The Uttam-Sabitri combination became a favourite of the Bengali cine-goers and their friendship withstood strong but false rumours of marriage.

They would be responsible for a series of memorable films including Lakh Taka (1953), Kalyani (1954), Anupama (1954), Raikamal (1955), Nabojanma (1956), Punar Milan (1957), Marutirtha Hinglaj (1959), Raja-Saja (1960), Dui Bhai (1961), Bhranti Bilas (1963), Momer Alo (1964) and Nishipadma (1970). They also had major roles in Mrinal Sen's first feature film Raat Bhore (1955) and Tapan Sinha's second effort Upahaar (1955). Bhranti Bilas, Mouchak and Dhanyi Meye rank high among the popular Bengali comedy cinema.

In the early eighties, Sabitri did not appear on screen as before. However, in the late 1980s, she came back with films like Mamoni, Anandalok and Haar-Jeet.

TV career

Sabitri Chatterjee continues to act in commercial Bengali cinemas and television till date. She is one of the stars of the mega soap opera Sonar Harin that has run more than 1000 episodes, which was aired on ETV Bangla. She has acted as Muktokeshi in serial Subarnalata (title role was played by the National Film Award-winning Ananya Chatterjee), adaptation of Ashapurna Devi's novel, which was aired on Zee Bangla and as Sona thamma in Jal Nupur which was aired on Star Jalsha.

She is currently acting as a senior matriarch of a family in the TV serial Kusum dola, which is aired in STAR Jalsha. She has played the master chef in Joto Hashi Toto Ranna, which is a fiction cum reality cookery show, where kitchen skills are weaved around a fictional plot revolving around a certain Gupta family. She played a minor role in 2012 Star Jalsja serial Tapur Tupur and currently playing the role of a yesteryear actress in Chokher Tara Tui.^[3] This TV serial is also aired in STAR Jalsha.

Currently, she is acting in an Indian Bengali show named Andarmahal which airs on very popular Bengali Entertainment channel Zee Bangla.

• The Bengal Film Journalists' Association (BFJA) Award for Best Actress in Supporting Role in 1967 for "Kal Tumi Aleya"
• BFJA Award-Best Actress in Supporting Role in 1972 for "Malyadan"
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting in Bengali theatre in 1999.
• D.Lit degree from Kalyani University in 2012
• Banga Bibhushan Award in 2013 for her contribution to Indian Cinema.
• Padma Shri Award in 2014 for contributions in Film arts.^[4]