Renowned Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee has died aged 85 from complications from Covid-19.Soumitra was best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films.
In 1999 Soumitra Chattopadhyay was also, the first Indian film personality, conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest award for artists. He was also the winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which is India’s highest award for cinema. In 2017, exactly thirty years after auteur Satyajit Ray was honoured with France’s highest civilian award- the coveted Chevalier of Legion of Honor, thespian Soumitra Chatterjee, arguably, the most prominent face of Rays films, also received the prestigious award. He was the seventh recipient of this award.
He start his debut film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959)as adult Apu, the third part of Apu Trilogy, he went on to work in several notable films with Ray, including Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964)as Amal, Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969); Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973); Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Feluda; Hirak Rajar Deshe(1980), Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984)as Sandeep, Shakha Proshakha (1990) and Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989). Meanwhile, he also worked with other noted directors of Bengali cinema, with Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum (Up in the Clouds, 1965), Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan(Hungry Stones, 1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961), Atonko(1984), Asit Sen in Swaralipi (1961), Ajoy Kar in Otol Joler Ahoban(1962) Saat Pake Bandha (1963), Parineeta (1969), and Tarun Mazumdar in Sansar Simante (1975), Ganadevata (1978),Poth o Prasad,Agomon(1988). He acted more than 210 films in his career till 2016. He also received critical favour for his directorial venture Stree Ki Patra (1986) which is based on Streer Patra, a Bengali short story written by Tagore.
