
Soumitra Chatterjee
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay (Shoumitro Chôttopaddhae; born 19 January 1935 — 15 November 2020) was an Indian Bengali film and stage actor and poet. He was best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films, and his constant comparison with the Bengali cinema screen idol Uttam Kumar, his contemporary leading man of the 1960s and 1970s. Soumitra Chatterjee is also the first Indian film personality to be conferred with the Commandeur de l’ Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest award for artists. He is also the winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which is India's highest award for cinema. Not only that, in 2017 exactly thirty years after auteur Satyajit Ray was honoured with France's highest civilian award, the coveted Legion of Honor, thespian Soumitra Chatterjee, arguably, the most prominent face of Ray's films, is set to receive the prestigious award. Starting with his debut film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959), the third part of Apu Trilogy, he went on to work in several notable films with Ray, including Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969); Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973); Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974) as Feluda and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Feluda, Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984) and Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989). Meanwhile, he also worked with other noted directors of Bengali cinema, with Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum (Up in the Clouds, 1965), Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan (Hungry Stones, 1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961), Asit Sen in Swaralipi (1961), Ajoy Kar in Saat Pake Bandha (1963), Parineeta (1969), and Tarun Mazumdar in Sansar Simante (1975) and Ganadevata (1978). He acted more than 210 films in his career till 2016. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2004. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. He has won two National Film Awards as an actor, and as an actor in Bengali theatre, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1998, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama. In 2013, IBN LIVE named him as one of "The men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema". In 2014, he received the introductory Filmfare Awards East for Best Male Actor (Critics) for his role in Rupkatha Noy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Soumitra Chatterjee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
A Bengali film about the revenge of a man who is arrested after a false accusation, causing his father to go insane.
Pratisodh

Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.
The World of Apu

In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art.
Charulata

Allan is an engineer working in 1930s Calcutta. He is invited to stay with the family of his boss, Narendra Sen which includes his wife, Indira and daughter Gayatri. Gayatri and Allan become romantically involved leading to tragedy.
The Bengali Night

The story of a Bengali joint family which starts as the mother refuses to acknowledge the foreign-returned wife of her son and her child from a previous marriage.
Chander Bari

Four friends from Calcutta who have very different personalities make a holiday excursion into the country, to a tiny village in the state of Bihar where they set themselves up in a bungalow. A series of minor events, all connected to their respective reactions to their new environment, reveals their characters more deeply.
Days and Nights in the Forest

Narsingh, a North Indian taxi driver, attempts to reinvent his life by visiting his native place, but instead gets embroiled in a local Marwari businessman's smuggling and human trafficking business.
The Expedition

A story of relationships that explores the intricacies of the married life, of life-long companionship, of promises and expectations and love.
Belaseshe

Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter, driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.
The Coward

Ahalya, set as a modern-day thriller, is an ode to a legend from Ramayana. The 14-minute-long film replays the deadly game of Gods, spinning a web of intrigue, seduction, desire and mystery between Gods and Apsaras. Ahalya is a deadly game you can’t escape.
Ahalya

Borun Chakraborty, a grumpy old man, leads a lonely life with his bedridden wife and an emotionally distant family. Things take a turn for the unexpected after the country's president gets in touch with him.
Borunbabur Bondhu

The film features the characters from Satyajit Ray's Aranyer Din Ratri, returning to the forest over thirty years later. Ashim, Sanjoy, Harinath and Aparna have grown old in this film; Shekhar has died. They set out on a journey to break off every link with civilisation for a few days. However, the trip turns sour when Ashim and Aparna's daughter, Amrita, goes missing. It transpires that she is being held for ransom by local tribespeople. Police intervene and the kidnapped girl is returned to her parents, albeit against her own wishes.
In the Forest... Again

When a wealthy patriarch falls ill on his 70th birthday, three of his sons rush in from Calcutta, leading to a reunion filled with painful ironies and lingering disillusionment. As the family—including an addled fourth son who lives with the old man—watches and waits, the static occasion brings out simmering tensions in their family dynamics, from the father’s moral rectitude to the business ambition of two sons and the withdrawal of their siblings.
The Branches of the Tree

A devout upper-class Hindu has a vision in a dream that his daughter-in-law is the human incarnation of the Goddess Kali and begins worshipping her.
Devi

A journey of four people, Pradyut, Madhura, Neel and Angshuman, through the making of a film. Legendary actor, Pradyut, had chosen a life of exile. Madhura, National Awardee for her debut film, now leads a frustrated existence. Neel, passionate about dance and astronomy, chances on something that changes his destiny. Angshuman, returns from Italy eight years after completing a course in film direction. He has an interesting script on the curious relationship between a septuagenarian celebrity painter and a young nurse. The project is a non-starter with constant setbacks. A crime occurs brings emotional crises to a peak. Despite all adversities, Angshuman is determined to see his dream project through.
Angshumaner Chhobi

Hemlock Society is a school that teaches aspirants how to successfully commit suicide. Meghna, one of the aspirants, has a near-death experience, turning everybody's lives upside-down.
Hemlock Society

Several interested parties go in search of a sleep-generating machine which was made 150 years ago by a scientist. However, a little boy is named the scientist's heir and becomes his legacy.
The Underground Chamber

In the early 1900s, Nikhilesh, a wealthy Westernized Hindu in colonial East Bengal, feels compelled to test the love of his wife, Bimala. He introduces her to his friend Sandip, a politician agitating against British rule, and Bimala is equally taken with both Sandip's anti-colonial fervor and the man himself. Personal and political tensions subsequently flare as the now assertive Bimala has to make a crucial decision.
The Home and the World

Atindranath Bannerjee, a retired teacher, faces harassment from his family members and decides to discipline them. Later, he shifts to a slum and starts teaching underprivileged children.
Lathi

Ashoke Gupta is an idealistic doctor working in a town near Calcutta. He discovers that the water at a popular temple is the source of an outbreak of typhoid and hepatitis. In order to save lives, he risks his career to try and call attention to this polluted water source, while a local group of building contractors attempt to discredit him in various ways.