Updated: November 15, 2020 6:30:41 pm
Soumitra Chatterjee passed away on Sunday at the age of 85 (File Photo Express).
A few months ago, a 1965 photograph appeared on social media platforms and, within minutes, it went viral. It had four beautiful people, posing on the red carpet at that year’s Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), in which Satyajit Ray’s period classic Charulata won Best Director, and Madhur Jaffrey received Best Actress. by James Ivory’s Shakespeare-wallah, whose music was composed by Ray.
In the frame, flanking Felicity Kendal and Jaffery, resplendent in dress and sari respectively, were two very graceful gentlemen: Shashi Kapoor in a sherwani and Soumitra Chatterjee in a bandhgala, competing equally in the elegant and elegant stakes. The dimpled charm of the flawless Kapoor was somewhat familiar, but it was Chatterjee, with a cigarette to his lips, looking incredibly handsome, who took our collective breath away. It was hard to believe that this glamorous Chatterjee was the same person we had grown up watching, perfectly embodying the common man movie after movie.
At the Berlinale, Berlin International Film Featival, 1965 – Satyajit Ray’s ‘Charulata’ received the Silver Bear award for best director
Shashi Kapoor, Madhur Jaffrey, Jennifer Kapoor, her sister Felicity and Soumitra Chatterjee pic.twitter.com/qfTsHukQmD
– Photos of the history of cinema (@FilmHistoryPic) August 13, 2020
The point is, Chatterjee himself may have arched an incredulous eyebrow at the red carpet look, as he was convinced it wasn’t “very photogenic.” Whether it was a forgivable presumption from a legendary actor revered by legions of fans, or who actually believed he looked ordinary, was never questioned, because it came from a man whose sincerity was never in doubt. Since his debut in 1959, Apur Sansar, the final part of Satyajit Ray’s iconic Apu trilogy (after Pather Panchali and Aparajito), Chatterjee’s quality of sincerity was his most permanent trait, and kept him in a strong position throughout. throughout his career.
Of course, it had to be Ray who gave Chatterjee his first movie. Between the two men, there was a striking similarity of thought, which was based on each movie. The director with an unerring eye for creating instantly believable landscapes and characters needed a protagonist to match the setting, and in Chatterjee, Ray found exactly who he was looking for. Their long and fruitful collaboration resulted in 14 memorable feature films, including, in addition to Apur Sansar, Charulata, Ghare Baire, Aranyer Din Ratri, the films of Feluda (Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath), Ashani Sanket, Hirak Rajar Deshe and Ganashatru. , among others.
From Express Archives | Ray was possessive of me, like a father with his son: Soumitra Chatterjee
Seeing Apur Sansar today, almost 60 years after its creation, is a gift. It provides us with a director who begins his journey of being in perfect sync with his actor, through the discernible rhythms that they set up. In ‘My Years with Apu’, Ray writes about how he happened to Chatterjee, then ‘a radio host but with an intense interest in acting’, to the adolescent Apu in Aparajito because he seemed ‘too old’. “He was then 20 years old and had just finished college, so I fired him. Then I called him back and offered him the lead role in ‘Apur Sansar.’ An early scene, in which Apu, penniless and jobless, uses a fly-stained mirror on a wall to shave, is done economically: a landlord demanding his dues enters the scene, Apu rejects him; the owner leaves, turning off the light switch; Apu walks over to the door, turns it on again, and greets the light with a hint of a smile. Round one, to Apu.
Soumitra Chatterjee in Apur Sansar. (Express file photo)
This joy was part of Chatterjee’s arsenal, especially when playing the role of Feluda, the beloved detective. We see Chatterjee donning a number of outrageous costumes, sporting obviously fake-looking beards, and solving outrageous cases with the help of his two loyal associates, and it’s all a lot of fun. In a very different film, Aranyer Din Ratri (1970), where he is one of the four young men, clearly the most sophisticated in his elegant dark tones, this streak reappears, most clearly when he is trying his luck with the lovely Sharmila. Tagore with her up-to-date bouffant updos and cat eyeliners.
Chatterjee’s deep sense of innate decency seeped into some of his more complex characters, especially his portrayal of Ray’s intruders, who act as disruptors in the homes they enter, more in Charulata than in Ghaire Baire. Both are chamber pieces based on works by Rabindranath Tagore, both look at the elevation of the woman, and in both Chatterjee appears as the third wheel. Like the poetry-loving young Amal, who has much more in common with his sister-in-law Charulata than her husband, and like the revolutionary Sandip in Ghare Baire, who attracts his best friend Nikhilesh’s wife, Bimala, with his fiery ideals. . and animation, both characters are shown entering forbidden territory, but neither crosses the line.
Soumitra Chatterjee (1935-2020): A pictorial tribute to the legendary actor
Chatterjee also worked with a group of other respected directors: In Mrinal Sen’s Aakash Kusum (1965), he is a middle-class executive deceptively trying to improve his position. In Tapan Sinha’s Kshudhita Pashan (1960), based on a story by Tagore, he plays a tax collector stationed in a small town, dealing with a haunted building and tales of old women. And, yes, he has also sung and danced on Teen Bhubaner Pare (1969), directed by Ashutosh Bandyopadhyay – that melodious song “Jiboney ki paabo na” invariably finds its way into any loud guitar rumble. even today, and not just in Bengali homes.
Soumitra Chatterjee and Satyajit Ray on the sets of Ghaire Baire. (Express file photo)
But there was no doubt in his mind, as well as ours, that his work with Ray is what gave him wings, and that’s the body of work we remember him most for. However, there was only one role that eluded him: He did not get the coveted lead at Nayak, which went to Uttam Kumar, whose pole position as Bengal’s hugely popular star was not challenged by Chatterjee’s strong but calmer presence. If you had to choose someone to whom delusional youths were thrown, who would you choose? Ray was right to cast Uttam Kumar as the charismatic matinee idol, and while Chatterjee always claimed he understood why, his words were laced with a tinge of regret.
Read | Soumitra Chatterjee passes away | Celebrities mourn the death of Soumitra Chatterjee | Until the end, Tollywood tried to live up to the phenomenon called Soumitra Chatterjee.
Chatterjee’s long years as a performer, both on stage (he was in the theater before going to the movies, and continued to the end) and on screen, were full of awards: two national awards, the Padma Bhushan, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He was also the first Indian actor to receive the French Legion of Honor. But he wore his honors lightly and continued to work, on some movies that were good, some not so good. In 2015’s Belaseshe, a high-melodrama family drama, she was the main name alongside her Ghare Baire co-star Swatilekha Sengupta. When asked why he made certain films, he said, with grace, that he was just doing his job: acting, after all, is a great job. And that’s what he was, an actor at work, until the end.
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