Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee ( _bn. সৌমিত্র চট্টোপাধ্যায় "Shoumitro Chôţţopaddhae") (born January 19, 1935) is a Bengali actor from India, most famous for his frequent collaborations with the great Indian director Satyajit Ray.

Background

Soumitra studied at the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta, graduating with honours in Bengali literature. He has lived for a number of years in Calcutta in Satyajit Ray's old apartment.

atyajit Ray

Soumitra's film debut came in 1959 in Satyajit Ray's "Apur Sansar". As noted on the official website for Ray, "At that time, Soumitra Chatterjee was a radio announcer and had only played a small role in a Bengali stage production" [http://www.satyajitray.org/about_ray/SoumitraChatterjee.htm] . Soumitra would eventually collaborate with Ray on fourteen films. His centrality to Ray's work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema - Mifune & Kurosawa, Mastroianni & Fellini, De Niro & Scorsese, and Dicaprio & Scorsese. He also worked with Sharmila Tagore in a number of Ray films.

Other work

Besides working with Ray, Soumitra excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. He played the role of Shekhar in the 1969 Ajoy Kar version of "Parineeta." Soumitra has also been active in Bengali theatre as an actor, playwright and director. He is a well-known poetry reciter, and has acted on TV and in indigenous folk drama "(jatra)".

Honors and awards

Soumitra has received the 'Officier des Arts et Metiers', the highest award for arts given by the French government, and a lifetime achievement award from Italy. He turned down the honorary Padma Shri award from the Indian government in the seventies; more recently, in 2004, he accepted the prestigious Padma Bhushan award from the President of India. He has been the subject of a full-length documentary by French director Catherine Berge.

In a gesture of protest against the National Film Awards committee's bias in awarding popular and mainstream cinema, he turned down the 2001 special jury award for best actor. However, on June 9, 2008, he was selected for the 2007 National Film Award for Best Actor by the Government of India.

elect filmography

External links

* [http://www.calcuttaweb.com/cinema/saumitrachatterjee.shtml Biography at calcuttaweb.com]
* [http://www.satyajitray.org/about_ray/SoumitraChatterjee.htm Biography from satyajitray.org]
* [http://dearcinema.com/soumitra-chatterjee/ The Enigma That Is Soumitra Chatterjee]
* [http://www.write2kill.in/first-person/reminiscences/170.html Interview-based profile on Write2kill.in]
* [http://www.ibnlive.com/news/being-soumitra-chatterjee-star-of-the-east/67961-19.html Interview in CNN-IBN]
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Interviews/I_have_no_right_to_hurt_my_viewers/articleshow/3178668.cms Interview in Times of India]
* [http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/11/stories/2008061159881100.htm Award comes “too late in the day” for Soumitra -- article in The Hindu]
*imdb name|id=154164|name=Soumitra Chatterjee