Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee died at the age of 85.
Apu, Amulya, Narsingh, Amal, Ajay, Ashim and Feluda, the hot shot detective who made him a household name, the actor who brought these characters to life, is no more.
Soumitra Chatterjee, who wowed Bengal with her luminescent performances on the Bengali silver screen for 62 years, who would have turned 86 on January 19 next year, died today after a 40-day fight in hospital, battling COVID-19 , complications. and comorbidities.
Leave behind a devastated family of wife, son and daughter and their families, and Bengal … Indeed, the world of cinema in India and beyond.
His epic lines in his debut film – Satyajit Ray’s “Apur Sansar“- Soumitra Chatterjee, like Apu, talks about himself in the third person and says:” A village boy … poor but sensitive. His father is a priest. The father dies. The boys go to a city. He does not want to become a priest. He wants to study. It is ambitious. His knowledge, his struggle broadens his mind, he is a rationalist. But he has imagination … he is sensitive. Little things move him, give him joy. Perhaps you have the potential to do great things. But it does not. But that is not the end. It is not tragic. he is not doing anything great, he is still poor, struggling. But he does not stop living life. He is not running away, he is not running away. The goal of life is to live it. He loves it. He wants to live. “
Theater actor. Thus began Soumitra Chatterjee her career in the late 1950s under the tutelage of the legendary Sisir Bhaduri. He has often said that the theater was his first love. But he brought the screen to life with his first film “Apur Sansar” followed by “Teen Kanya“Y”Abhijan“(all Satyajit Ray movies).
After that came “Saat Pake Badha“with Suchitra Sen directed by Ajoy Kar. Other films included”Akash Kusum“with Mrinal Sen and her co-star Aparna Sen”,Jhinder Bandi“with Tapan Sinha”,Ganadevata“with Tarun Majumdar and as Amal in the classic”Charulata“in 1964 with an iconic performance by her co-star Madhavi Chatterjee.
Bengal and the world of cinema were captivated by this young man with dreams in his eyes. Or anger or contempt or passion, whatever your character needs to reflect.
“Feluda” was different, a big shot. An action packed brain detective in primarily children’s movies – “Sonar Kella“Y”Joy Baba Felunath“But it was a role that made him a household name in Bengal, the next generation hero, a character that Soumitra Chatterjee modeled, it is said, on his creator Satyajit Ray.
Soumitra Chatterjee returned to the theater in 1978 with “Namjiban“,”Rajkumar“Y”Nilkantha“- which Satyajit Ray highly praised.” An unforgettable performance, “he had said.
In 1990, two years before his death, Satyajit Ray said of Soumitra Chatterjee: “Of my 27 films, Soumitra appeared in the leading roles in 14 of them. This in itself will show how confident I am in him and how I value him as actor. I know that until the last day of my life as an artist, my dependence on him will remain intact. “
After Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Tapan Sinha, Soumitra Chatterjee remained a box office draw, in fact until the very end.
The filmmakers started writing scripts in which he could be the central character, like “Sanjhbati“- his last film released in 2019 -“Mayurakshi“Y”Bela Sheshe“- movies in which he played his age.
His stage performance continued with the biggest box office success “Raja Lear“, a Bengali adaptation of King Lear, in 2010, which was directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay, and was played full house for days.
He wrote poetry, plays, essays and also painted, exhibiting for the first time seven years ago.
He also appeared in advertisements for various products and was still a celebrity at 85, a member of all Bengal households.
One of Soumitra Chatterjee’s greatest loves was reciting poetry. Some lines from a poem titled “Someday” read like this: “Some days, memories become real. Memories become true.”
Soumitra Chatterjee is now a memory.
In an interview not long ago, author Amitava Akash Nag asked the actor what death means to him. He replied, “I don’t know. But I don’t know the meaning of life either. The search continues.”
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