A year without ‘Feluda’

After battling for his life for 40 days, Soumitra Chatterjee breathed his last on November 15, 2020, at the age of 85.

Born on January 19, 1935, in Krishnanagar, Nadia, Chatterjee started dreaming of achieving new heights since a very early age.

He began his acting career with the maestro filmmaker Satyajit Ray's "Apur Sansar" on August 9, 1958, where he played the lead character of Apu. The actor was best known for his collaborations with Ray.

Scene of the film Ashani Sanket.

He went on to appear in numerous other Ray productions, including "Abhijan" (The Expedition, 1962), "Charulata" (1964), "Aranyer Din Ratri" (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969), "Ashani Sanket" (Distant Thunder, 1973), "Sonar Kella" (The Fortress of Gold, 1974), "Joi Baba Felunath" (The Elephant God, 1978), "Hirak Rajar Deshe" (1980), "Ghare Baire" (The Home and The World, 1984), "Shakha Proshakha" (1990), and "Ganashatru" (Enemy of the People, 1989). Together, they have done 14 films.

In his long and successful career, Chatterjee has also been cast by some of the most celebrated directors in the history of Bangla cinema, namely Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Ajoy Kar and Tarun Mazumdar.

A still from 'Apur Sansar'

He also appeared in some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of India, including the likes of "Oshukh" by Rituparno Ghosh, "Hemlock Society" by Srijit Mukherjee, Goutab Ghoshe's "Dekha" and "Abar Aranye", Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee directorial "Bela Sheshe" and "Posto" and Atanu Ghosh's "Mayurakshi".

Chatterjee established his place in the hearts of audiences with his versatility and presenting himself onscreen every time with a challenging role. Noted actress Babita shared screen with him in Ray's Ashani Sanket in 1973. In 1964 Madhabi Mukherjee starred opposite Chatterjee in the film "Charulata".

Noted actress Aparna Sen and Chaterjee were featured in Dinen Gupta's "Basanta Bilap" in 1973, and Suchitra Sen paired up with him in Ajay Kar's "Saat Pakey Badha" in 1963, and "Devdas", starring opposite Supriya Debi.

Although he has done a lot of films, he was passionate towards the stage. Some of his remarkable works on stage are—"Naam Jibon", "Rajkumar", "Fera", "Neelkontho", "Ghatok Biday", "Nyay Murti", Tiktiki" and "Raja Lear". Besides acting, he also directed plays on stage.

He played an important role to develop Kolkata's theatre arena. The plays "Strir Potro" and Rabindranath Tagore's "Denapaona" was directed by him.

Scene from the play Raja Lear

He was not only a versatile actor but a multitalented personality with being a poet, elocutionist, director and editor of the little magazine 'Ekkhon'. He also had a published poetry book.

Chatterjee first received National Film Award in 1991. For the film "Antardhan" and "Dekha", he earned Special Jury Award.  After five decades of his acting career, in the year 2006, Chaterjee was honoured with the Best Actor Award for his performance in "Podokkhep".

In 2004, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan award. In 2012 he achieved the Dada Phalke award and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards.