Soumitra Chatterjee: The legendary actor of Bengali films

The death is inevitable in human life but Soumitra Chatterjee wanted to conquer that death! In a television interview, a reporter at one point asked him, how does he view death? In response, he said, ‘Thinking of death means accepting defeat to life. I have not learned to lose.’ But he had to give up near that death. God made it clear that no one can beat death. Even in the good contemporary era, Soumitra Chatterjee took a place in the jewel of the Bengali mind.

He frequently said, ‘I’m healthy because I’m acting.’ That’s why the Corona pandemic couldn’t keep him away from light-camera-action despite the warnings. He used to say, ‘I don't want to do anything but work.’ Work stress, emotion, pressure and surroundings all at this age did not have the slightest effect on his work.

At the end of the long struggle of his life, he surrendered to death! One of the best actors in the history of Bengali cinema succumbed to death after a 41-day long battle.

Every word uttered by him seems to be poetry. The death of Soumitra, the powerful great actor of Bengali movies seems to have brought an end to his six decades of golden film history.

With his death, a golden age of Bengali cinema lost its colour. Corona seemed to take Soumitra forward like a catalyst to the land of no return. Ernest Hemingway said, ‘Man was not created for defeat. He may be destroyed, but he cannot be lost.’

Soumitra seems to be a brilliant proof of this great speech. His unyielding mentality has given him a level of unimaginable success at every level of the film, which will be written in the hearts of his fans forever. Soumitra Chatterjee has acted on the silver screen of the film for more than 60 years and every moment of his touch has given his acting a different kind of success.

He was simultaneously a successful stage actor, playwright, play director, poet, founder and editor of literary and cultural magazines. He was born on the 19^th January of 1935 on Mirzapur Street (now Surya Sen Street) in Calcutta. After that, he moved to Krishnanagar at the young age. Their family home was in a village called Kaya near Shilaidaha in Kushtia, Bangladesh. They started living in Krishnanagar from the time of his grandfather.

Soumitra Chatterjee was very interested in acting from his childhood. He believed acting was also in his blood. In his time Krishnanagar had a very good level of drama. His father used to play role in different drama groups there, and at home, there was also a recitation of poems and a play which basically acted as a catalyst in her interest in acting.

‘When we were a child, we used to make a stage with planks at home, make curtains with bed sheets and play small plays with our siblings and friends. The elders of the house also gave us a lot of encouragement. My addiction to drama has increased since I was in class four or five,’ Soumitra once said.

He made his big-screen debut with world-renowned film director Satyajit Roy. The next story – ‘I came, I saw and I conquered’. Opu Kahini, made in three episodes of Satyajit Roy, made a huge splash in the film world in the fifties.

The way Satyajit Roy portrayed the story of a child Opu growing up in a family living in abject poverty in a village of Bengal, in Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's Pother Panchali made him one of the most famous film directors in the film world.

Besides, this is the first time that this film has presented a picture of rural life in India to the people of the world. When Soumitra Chatterjee was called up to play the role of Opu in the second episode of Opu Kahini, he did not get a chance to play the role due to his age but he had a great opportunity to play the role of a hero in the third and last episode of ‘Opur Songsar’. He had played the lead role in 14 films of Satyajit Roy.

Besides acting, Soumitra did not stop reciting poems even for a day. He continued writing and directing stage plays in parallel. Tiktiki, Namjibon, Rajkumar, Nilakontho are some of his plays. Moddho Rater Sonket, Hai Chirojol, Jonmo Jai Jonmo Jabe, Ja Baki Roilo, Heh Sayonkal’ are some of the books of poetry he has written. Besides, the poems of Rabindranath Tagore and Jibanananda Das have got a different dimension in the voices of Soumitra Chatterjee.

Chatterjee has received numerous awards from home and abroad for his contribution in acting. In 2004, he received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India, twice the National Film Award, and in 2012, he received the Government of India's highest film title, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his lifelong contribution to cinema. In 2016, he was awarded the Legion of Honor, a civilian honour of the French government.

With the demise of the legendary actor of Bengali films Soumitra Chatterjee, one of the great stars and guardians of the film world has been lost. But his hard work and dedication will always keep him alive in the hearts of the people. His contribution to Bengali cinema and drama will never be faded.

 

Makama Mahmud Chowdhury studies at the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology