Soumitra Chatterjee: The doyen of Bengali cinema

Quiet and solitude, the visitors’ room at his Golf Green residence in south Calcutta was an ideal place to discuss Bengali cinema with Soumitra Chatterjee, one of the living legends of Indian films.

On one side of the wall, is a portrait of his idol Shishir Kumar Bhaduri, pioneer of modern Bengali theatre.

Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore in Aranyer Din Ratri.

“Mr Bhaduri influenced me a lot,” said Chatterjee, whose first play was Mukhosh, a Bengali adaptation of William Wymark Jacobs’s horror story The Monkey’s Paw, which he directed while doing his Masters at the Calcutta University.

After watching the ‘Natyacharya’ in the 1950s, Chatterjee got into acting and even acted with the late actor in one of his later productions Prafulla.

With his tall frame, refined look, education, and someone who is passionate about poetry, plays and theatre, Chatterjee rivaled Uttam Kumar in mainstream stardom.

Satyajit Ray’s Apu talked about his relationship with Kumar as one of a “healthy rivalry,” as well as brotherly and encouraging.

The old-timers and the Bengali youth still draw comparisons between the stalwarts at addas over chai, but most acknowledge that Kumar was a nayok (star) while Chatterjee is an abhineta (actor) who gave strong performances in Ray and and Mrinal Sen’s art movies and also dabbled in mainstream hits like Teen Bhubaner Pare.

Not surprising then, more than half a decade after his debut in Ray’s Apur Sansar, Chatterjee is refreshing to watch.

At 81, when most prefer a cozy retired life, he acknowledged work has kept him alive.

Are you always busy?

“I prefer to keep myself busy. I’ve film shootings and theatres. It’s not that I can’t take rest, I don’t want to,” said Ray’s most adorable actor.

“It’s difficult to sit idle. I don’t want to spend a retired life. Theatres, movies and recitations keep me going. I can’t stop doing what I’m doing right now,” he added with a sense of pride.

The octogenarian’s narrative on modern Bengali cinema provided some food for thought — he dismissed the well-acclaimed Bela Seshe, where he played the lead role, as ok-ok stuff, but praised Aditya Bikram Sengupta’s Asha jawar majhe.

“I’m not well. I’ve stopped driving. I don’t watch movies at the halls, but I went to watch Asha jawar majhe,” he said.

He waxed eloquent on Sengupta, but expressed disappointment at his critics, who alleged he had copied from an Iranian short film.

“Bangali bhishon sporsho kator. Chobi ta eto award niye elo. Eta oder sojjo hochchena. (Bengalis are very sensitive. The movie got some international awards, but they didn’t acknowledge his achievements). “We shouldn’t discredit him. At least, did a full-length movie,” he added.

The film won Best Debut Director at the 71st Venice International Film Festival and Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director and Best Audiography at the 62nd National Film Awards besides winning awards in New York, London, Marrakech and Abu Dhabi.

When asked if Ray would have made movies on Calcutta’s current state of affairs, the 2012 Dada Saheb Phalke award-winner said, “Ray’s Calcutta trilogy Pratidwandi, Seemabaddha and Jana Aranya dealt with a different subject. He definitely would’ve made some significant movies on the current socio-political developments.

With Ray in discussion, I asked him about one particular shot from his 1970 movie Aranyer din ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest) where Aparna, played by Sharmila Tagore, scribbled her phone number on a two rupee note in Ray’s 1970 movie to Chatterjee.

“Ota Manikbabur idea. Oi somoi Taka te soi dewa was a common thing. (That was Manikbabu’s idea. During those times, it was a common practice to write phone or sign autographs on the blank white space of a paper note).

“Ray left a question mark on their relationship with that shot. The movie didn’t hint at anything whether he would call or she would respond once they returned to their respective destinations. The ending was a class,” he signed off.

Pic courtesy: www.letstalkaboutbollywood.com