40 Facts About Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet.

Soumitra Chatterjee is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.

Soumitra Chatterjee is best known for his collaborations with director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films.

Soumitra Chatterjee worked with other noted directors of Bengali cinema, such as Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum ; Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan, Jhinder Bandi ; Asit Sen in Swaralipi, Ajoy Kar in Parineeta, and Tarun Mazumdar in Ganadevata.

Soumitra Chatterjee acted in more than 210 films in his career.

Soumitra Chatterjee received critical acclaim for his directorial debut Stree Ki Patra which was based on the Bengali short story Streer Patra by Rabindranath.

Soumitra Chatterjee was awarded the Padma Bhushan and France's highest civilian award Commandeur de la Legion d' Honneur.

Soumitra Chatterjee received two National Film Awards as an actor and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his work in theatre.

Soumitra Chatterjee was born in Mirjapur Street near Sealdah railway station, in Calcutta in 1935.

Soumitra Chatterjee's grandfather was the president of one such group while his father, though lawyer by profession and later a government worker, worked as an amateur actor.

Soumitra Chatterjee was a very close friend of famous theatre personality, Mrityunjay Sil who is often regarded as a key influence on his career.

Soumitra Chatterjee graduated from the City College, Kolkata with honours in Bengali literature, as a graduating student of the University of Calcutta.

Soumitra Chatterjee lived for a few years in Calcutta in Satyajit Ray's old apartment at 3-lake temple road.

Soumitra Chatterjee managed to meet Bhaduri, through his friend's mother, actress Shefalika Putul.

Soumitra Chatterjee even appeared in a small role in one of Bhaduri's productions.

Soumitra Chatterjee came in touch with Ray during the casting for Aparajito, who was looking for new faces.

Soumitra Chatterjee had gone on the sets of Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar to watch the shoot.

Soumitra Chatterjee was unaware that he had already been selected for the title role in the Apu trilogy.

In fact Ray believed with a beard Soumitra Chatterjee looked like young poet laureate Tagore.

Soumitra Chatterjee would go on to collaborate with Ray in fourteen films.

Soumitra Chatterjee was cast in diverse roles by Ray and some of the stories and screenplays that Ray wrote were said to be written with him in mind.

Soumitra Chatterjee was the first person who portrayed the iconic Bengali sleuth Feluda.

Soumitra Chatterjee had approached Satyajit Ray to suggest a name for a little magazine founded by Soumitra Chatterjee and Nirmalya Acharya in 1961.

Satyajit Ray had named the magazine Ekkhon, he designed the inaugural cover page and illustrated the cover pages regularly even after Soumitra Chatterjee had stopped editing the magazine.

Besides working with Ray, Soumitra Chatterjee excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha.

Soumitra Chatterjee earned critical acclaim for his role of an impostor in Mrinal Sen's Akash Kusum.

Besides films, Soumitra Chatterjee continued acting in Kolkata-based Bengali theatre, and published over 12 poetry books.

Soumitra Chatterjee even recalled using film's catch-phrase "Fight-Koni-fight" in hard times, as a chant to himself to lift his "aging spirits".

Soumitra Chatterjee starred in his biopic Abhijaan directed by Parambrata Chatterjee, an artist himself.

The movie was released in April 2022 posthumously as a tribute to Soumitra Chatterjee featuring Jisshu Sengupta who portrayed the younger self of the late artist.

Soumitra Chatterjee replaced Mrityunjay Sil as the lead artist in 1958.

Soumitra Chatterjee received widespread critical and popular accolades for his acting in the play.

Soumitra Chatterjee received the 'Commandeur' Officier des Arts et Metiers, the highest award for arts given by the French government in 1999, and the Lifetime Award at the Naples Film Festival, Italy.

Soumitra Chatterjee turned down the Padma Shri award from the Indian government in the 1970s.

Soumitra Chatterjee has been the subject of a full-length documentary named Gaach by French film director Catherine Berge.

Incidentally, besides receiving eight awards from the Bengal Film Journalists' Association for the best actor and international recognition for his acting prowess, Soumitra Chatterjee never won a National Film Award for acting in the early part of his career, which established his reputation as an actor, working with directors like Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen.

Soumitra Chatterjee has multiple works to his credit in Bengali, including:.

On 5 October 2020, Soumitra Chatterjee tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted on 6 October in Belle Vue Clinic, Kolkata.

Soumitra Chatterjee was kept on BiPAP support and invasive ventilation for in the critical times; after his improvement in health, the treatment mechanisms were changed.

Soumitra Chatterjee was under the supervision of a medical team of 16 physicians.