Swatilekha started her career in theater in
Prayagraj in the early 1970s, acting in productions under the direction of A.C. Banerjee. She also received guidance from B.V. Karanth,
Tapas Sen, and Khaled Chowdhury. Then she moved to
Kolkata and joined the theater group
Nandikar in 1978. In
Nandikar she worked under the direction of
Rudraprasad Sengupta, whom she went on to marry. She was also the lead female protagonist in
Ghare Baire, a 1984 film by
Satyajit Ray, against
Victor Banerjee and
Soumitra Chatterjee. This film was based upon a novel of the same name
Ghare Baire written by the famous Bengali writer
Rabindranath Tagore. She has also acted in films like
Chauranga,
Bela Seshe,
Dharmajuddha and
Bela Shuru. ==Death==