Balaka Bhattacharjee, born in 1974, is a contemporary Indian painter based in Kolkata. The daughter of renowned Bengali realist painter Bikash Bhattacharjee, she was introduced to art at an early age and received guidance from her father. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Bengali Literature from the University of Calcutta and studied drawing and sketching at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. She later graduated in Fine Arts from the University College for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, UK.

Balaka Bhattacharjee began pursuing painting seriously in the late 1990s, after completing her postgraduate studies in Bengali Literature. Her literary background has had an important influence on her approach to painting, particularly her interest in poetry and its lyrical qualities. She has cited poets such as Jibanananda Das and Bishnu Dey among her influences, while her artistic interests include the works of Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Pyne, Aditya Basak and Prasenjit Sengupta.

Her practice is primarily figurative, with the human figure serving as a central element in her paintings. She works mainly in oil and acrylic on canvas, focusing on emotion, human relationships and psychological states. Her early works explored what she described as the primal instincts of human beings, with subjects including fear, dreams, death and resurrection. Although the influence of Bikash Bhattacharjee's realist approach can be seen in her attention to the figure and technical detail, Bhattacharjee developed her own visual language through a combination of figurative painting and literary sensibility.

Balaka Bhattacharjee held her first solo exhibition, Last of the Shadows, at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, in 2003. The exhibition comprised 12 oil paintings on canvas and marked her emergence as a professional artist. Her subsequent exhibitions and art camps included the Birla Academy annual exhibitions in Kolkata, an art camp organised by Gallery Sanskriti, a group exhibition at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, and exhibitions at Hyatt Regency, Kolkata, Gallery Art & Soul, Delhi, and in Chatham, England.

In 2002, Balaka Bhattacharjee was selected as a finalist in the Camlin Art Foundation art competition, with her painting Hunter included in the final exhibition in Kolkata. Her later works include Tide in Afternoon (2013), executed in acrylic and beads on canvas, Story of a Moonlit Night (2019), an acrylic-on-canvas diptych, and Untitled (2021), an oil-on-canvas work.