The veteran thespian, Soumitra Chatterjee, whose recent passing has marked the end of an era of Indian cinema, showed us his versatility in his very first film. A particular scene in the 1959 film, Apur Sansar(The World of Apu)involves a young 20 something man and the protagonist, Apurba Kumar Ray, looking for a job in what was then called, Calcutta. His quest takes him to a labelling and bottling factory and he is taken inside to see the nature of the job. We see his emotions change from feeling hopeful to disdain and culminating in sadness because he knows that this isn’t the life he dreamt of.The third and final act of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy saw our Apuof the first two films grow up to be a man who learns to take responsibility of his life amid the tragedy that unfolds. An unconventional debut in itself, the audience watched him emote rather than deliver heavy dialogues in rapt attention, impressed at the subtlety with which he gave nuance to this character. He became Apu and at that moment, the world of Cinema saw the birth of the “Thinking Actor”.
Born in Calcutta, West Bengal on January 19, 1935, Soumitra Chatterjee started acting in plays while still in Howrah Zilla School. The theatre scene was a force to be reckoned with. His family was already associated with one of the many theatre groups – his grandfather was the President of one while his father acted in plays in his free time. In the following years, his interest in acting kept growing.
In his college days at City College where he majored in Bengali Literature, he trained under theatre doyens, Ahindra Choudhury and Sisir Bhaduri, both of whom were instrumental in shaping Bengali theatre. His destiny would prepare him for the world of cinema. A famous story involved him giving an audition for the 1957 Bengali Film, Nilachaley Mahaprabhu. The director Kartik Chattopadhyay felt he did not fit the role and rejected him. He worked in radio for a brief period before being cast in his debut film. He was equally good in reciting poetry and has a few books on poetry to his credit.
An Unparalleled Contribution
In a 2008 interview with CNBC TV 18 where journalist Anuradha Sengupta spoke to him in the showBeing Legends, he spoke of his journey in Cinema and gave us a glimpse of his personality.
Among other things he spoke of film awards, his disdain for cinema until he met Manikda (as Ray was popularly called), and the sense of inferiority he felt which fuelled his approach to his art. While shooting for his debut film, Apur Sansar, he thought that he should focus on his acting rather than his looks and that helped him as a beginner. When Anuradha expressed her surprise, he shared how there were a few good-looking people in his family and he was considered to be the ugly duckling. He recalled the first day of shooting for his first film on August 9, 1958, where he felt that he has found his vocation and the place where he truly belonged.
His other well-known character roles in Ray films made us see how versatile he was – idealistic Umaprasad in Devi (1960); arrogant and city educated Amulya showing off his urban ways in Teen Kanya (1961); hot tempered Rajput taxi driver Narsingh in Abhijaan (1962); selfish and guilt ridden intellectual, Amal in Charulata (1964); the brilliant fictional detective Prodosh Mittir in two Feludafilms; the vain and class conscious Ashim in Aranyer Din Ratri (1970); the naïve Brahmin Gangacharan in Ashani Sanket who learns about reality at the backdrop of the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 (1973); and the anti-hero with a questionable moral code, Sandip in the cult classic, Ghare Baire (1984).
These filmssaw him portraying a wide range of characters with a depth rarely seen in Indian cinema.
He was equally versatile in non-Ray films, often working with giants of the time like Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha, among others. In Ashutosh Bandopadhyay’sTeen Bhubaner Parey he danced all the way to our hearts as Montuin the song, Jiboney ki Paabo Na. This would become the motif for other actors to portray jobless lover boys with hope for a better future in their eyes. In Tapan Sinha’s Jhinder Bandi, we saw him as the villainous Mayurbhan in a film where Uttam Kumar was the protagonist. In the 1969 film, Parineeta, directed by Ajoy Kar, Soumitra Chatterjee portrayed the obsessive Shekhar Roy with a dignified elegance. His understanding of tragedy showed in Kshudhita Pashan, a Tapan Sinha classic, where he was a young doctor in an atmospheric film interwoven with elements of horror that looked at loneliness through poetic lens. In the Mrinal Sen directed Pratinidhi, he became Niren in a story of doomed love. These roles proved his commercial mettle.
In his later years, he worked with well-known directors like Rituparno Ghosh, GoutamGhosh, Anik Dutta and Srijit Mukherjee, among others. Ahalya, a short film made by Sujoy Ghosh saw him as the sinister Goutam Sadhu, a retelling of a mythological story from the Ramayana.
Recognition: National and International
He caught the attention of the world through the characters he portrayed. His character in Abhijaan was said to be one of the influences for the Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver (1976).
Soumitra Chatterjee received the Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honour – both from the French Government,for his contribution to World Cinema – in 1999 and 2017, respectively. In addition, he won the Lifetime Award at the Naples Film Festival –significant for an actor of Indian origin.
He refused to accept the Padma Shri from the Government of India in the 1970’s, clearly showing that he was a politically conscious artist. He later received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardand the Padma Bhushan and won the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Award eight times.
The irony in all this was the fact that he was not given the National Film Award for the diverse roles he portrayed in the early part of his career –films, that have achieved cult status now. He received the same for acting in films like Antardhan (1991), Dekha (2000) and Podokhhep (2006). In 2012, he wasgiven the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s biggest honour in the field of Cinema.
Leaving behind a Void
In 1958, two veterans – filmmaker Satyajit Ray and actor Soumitra Chatterjee – met for a film. They would embark on a long association of making 14 films together. Indian cinema got one of its rare gems in him. He has left behind a void that won’t be easy to fill in the years to come; however, he will continue to live in our eternal memory.