Rossellini's Muse: Sonali Dasgupta

It was the scandal of the decade: Italian film great Roberto Rossellini left his wife, the actress Ingrid Bergman, for a nondescript—and married--Indian woman, Sonali Dasgupta, who bravely bore the full brunt of the patriarchy’s righteous anger to be with her lover. Here we revisit the story of this forgotten rebel.

Sonali Dasgupta belonged to a family of Indian cultural elites. She was educated at Shantiniketan, a progressive school established by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and the alma mater of such icons as Satyajit Ray and Indira Gandhi. Surrounded by the intellectual ferment of pre-independence India, young Sonali dreamt of boundless possibilities for herself too. But in an era where a woman’s power lay in her beauty, the dark and thin Sonali — no prize by the standards of the time —had little control over her fate.

Even in the supposedly liberal Shantiniketan community, women were exhorted not to greatness but to a “harmonious combination of true sweetness with true dignity.” In reality, the goal was to produce appropriate wives for India’s new progressive elites.

So, upon completing her education, Sonali was married off to Harisadhan Dasgupta, a filmmaker of similar background.

Fate intervened in the person of Roberto Rossellini, the great Italian filmmaker who was then married to the actress Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini had come to India for his next film and was introduced to Harisadhan by common acquaintances.

Knowing that Rossellini wanted capture the true spirit of the country and wanting to prove his own progressiveness perhaps, Harisadhan suggested that Rossellini collaborate with Sonali, whom he knew to be frustrated by the confines of domesticity.

As Rossellini and Sonali spent increasing amounts of time together, their relationship set tongues wagging. When Harisadhan could ignore the rumors no more, he threw Sonali out of the family home.

Promptly, Rossellini offered her a place by his side. The affair became the scandal du jour. Western media were outraged on behalf of Ingrid Bergman, and the Indian media were outraged on behalf of the patriarchy. In addition to her husband’s family, Sonali’s own relatives heaped scorn on her. They even petitioned the Indian prime minister (unsuccessfully) to deny her a passport so she couldn't leave the country with Rossellini.

In the eye of the storm stood Sonali. She insisted that Harisadhan’s petty jealousy rather than her infidelity had broken up the marriage, that he couldn’t stomach the reality of a liberated wife. 

For the first time in her adult life, Sonali was told she had intrinsic value apart from the roles society had assigned her. How could it not have made her giddy to know that she, a woman deemed unsophisticated and largely ignored, could turn the head of the great Rossellini? 

Did the story have a happy ending? Well, this was not a Hollywood movie. If Sonali was hoping for a partner who understood and acknowledged her desires, she was disappointed. If in India she could only be a "woman," then in Italy she could only be "Indian." She lived out the rest of her life in obscurity, estranged from her Indian family.

This is not the story of a great love. Nor is it a cautionary tale. It is just the story of an otherwise ordinary individual who demanded to be seen and had the courage to reach out to grab what life offered, even though the cost was high.