{"id":5898,"date":"2020-11-15T13:34:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T08:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=5898"},"modified":"2020-11-15T13:36:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T08:06:38","slug":"soumitra-chatterjee-a-habit-of-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/soumitra-chatterjee-a-habit-of-our-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Soumitra Chatterjee \u2013 A Habit of Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SOUMITRA

Soumitra Chatterjee speaking to Amitava Nag<\/p><\/div>\n

Soumitra Chatterjee has been my way of life. He is, for many Bengalis even if he passed our stage of life four decades ago. This is one classic test that he endured like his mentor Satyajit Ray. But even apart from the towering shadow of Ray, Soumitra carved out an image of him which he fostered over a period of time, so much so that even younger generations can\u2019t but try to emulate him. Be it the dreamer in Apu (Apur Sansar<\/em>) or Amal (Charulata<\/em>), the charismatic sleuth in Feluda (Sonar Kella<\/em>), the casual romantic in\u00a0Teen Bhuvaner Paare<\/em>\u00a0(twisting his way to impress Tanuja) and\u00a0Basanta Bilap<\/em>\u00a0or the fairy-tale villain Mayur Bahan in\u00a0Jhinder Bandi<\/em>, Soumitra had played it all. He was a successful hero in commercial films and yet never shied away from doing character roles in between. How else can we get an Aghor in\u00a0Sansar Seemante<\/em>, a Gangacharan in\u00a0Ashani Sanket<\/em>\u00a0or a Khsit-da in\u00a0Koni<\/em>? He showed that the actor prevails and not the star breaking his star image so many times to nurse the actor inside. Deserving of the Best actor award at the Indian National Film awards for at least 20-25 films he had to be content with only one for\u00a0Padakshep<\/em>\u00a0which is not a major film anyway. Whether his marked lineage with the Leftist power-at-helm in West Bengal for three decades has anything to do with it, we will never know. Rejecting the Padamshri at a young age never helped either.<\/p>\n

What sets Soumitra apart? Almost everything. He is a complete creative person \u2013 a poet, an elocution artist, an editor for two decades of one of Bengal\u2019s most versatile literary magazines, a painter and an actor. He has published volumes of his prose selections, play anthologies and poetry collections. A rarity, notwithstanding.<\/p>\n

Oh, he also acted in probably over 300 films or whatever the number is. Keeping aside 14 of Satyajit Ray\u2019s films, he had acted with all the major directors of Bengal barring Ritwik Ghatak. He remained ingrained to his culture and never wanted to move to Hindi films for the lure of money. In recent times he lamented for not trying the Arabian shores if not for anything else but for financially securing the last strides of his illustrious life.<\/p>\n

An excerpt from a long interview taken in the summer of 2014, where Soumitra Chatterjee spoke on his mentor Satyajit Ray.<\/p>\n