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Bengali Cinema
Saumitra Chatterjee
Saumitra Chatterjee is one of the most talented actors and probably the most acknowledged one internationally from Bengal.
The later is due to his appearance in many of Satyajit Ray's movies. He is to the films of Satyajit Ray what Toshiro Mifune
was to the films of Akira Kurosawa or Marcello Mastroianni to Federico Fellini. Saumitra appeared in 15 of the 34 films made
by Ray.
Born in 1935, Saumitra graduated from Calcutta University with
honors in literature. First appeared in film in 1959. It was 'Apu-r
Sansar'(The World of Apu), the final film of Satyajit Ray's 'Apu
Trilogy'. Saumitra acted in the role of a young man 'Apu'
who experiences the turmoils of life. His work in this film
gave him a distinct place in the heart of Bengali cine goers.
This place was even more firmed when he portrayed the ever
popular character of 'Feluda' in Ray's thriller 'Sonar Kella'
in the seventies. Ray made three films based on the works of
Tagore and incidentally Saumitra acted in all of them - 'Charulata',
'Samapti' (in 'Teen Kanya') and 'Ghare Baire'. Apart from Ray,
he acted with other prominent film directors such as Mrinal
Sen, Tapan Sinha etc. Saumitra displayed same level of
excellence in regular commercial films as well as in parallel
movies.
Other than film, Saumitra acts, writes and directs plays in Bengali theatre.
Acted with legendary stage personalities like Sisir Kumar
Bhaduri in the early days (role of 'Suresh' in 'Prafulla').
Saumitra reads and writes poetry and has a distinct place in the arena
of Bengali poetry recitation. He also acts for
television and in folk dramas ('jatra's).
Saumitra received the 'The Officier des Arts et Metiers', the
highest award for arts from France, lifetime achievement award
from Italy. He is probably the only Indian actor to have a
full-length documentary devoted to him by any Westerner - French
director Catherine Berge made a documentary film titled 'Tree' on
his life. He refused 'Padmasree' from India Govt. in the
seventies. Recently he was awarded with 'Padma Bhusan' by
President of India. But the best award for him is probably the love and the legendary place in the heart of film lovers.
Filmography:
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