Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away at the age of 85 on November 15. He was hospitalized for over a month in Bellevue Nursing Home in Kolkata after he was tested positive for the novel coronavirus on October 6. Chatterjee’s condition had disintegrated and he was on ventilator for the last few days.
The Dadasaheb Phalke award winning actor is most popular for his joint efforts with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked not in one, three or five but fourteen movies. Besides winning numerous awards Soumitra Chatterjee was also the only Indian film personality to receive the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest award for artists. Chatterjee was also bestowed with France’s highest civilian award, the Legion of Honor in 2018.
Soumitra Chatterjee’s debut film Apur Sansar was the third part of Ray’s Apu Trilogy which ended up winning numerous honors around the world and put Indian cinema in greater recognition.
He was not only a versatile actor but also a writer with more than 15 poetry books under his name, the actor had immense amount of love for theatre and literature. Indian cinema has no parallel of Soumitra Chatterjee till date. A portion of Chatterjee’s best works incorporate Ashani Sanket, Ghare Baire, Aranyer Din Ratri, Charulata, Shakha Proshakha, Jhinder Bandi, Saat Pake Bandha, and the sky is the limit from there.
(Contributed by Pranjal Sharma)