Soumitra won the lasting affection of Bengali filmgoers through his portrayal of Feluda, a popular detective character also
created by Ray, in films such as Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath.
Is it true that Ray’s Feluda sketches were drawn keeping you in mind?
Indeed many would point out the striking similarity between me and Ray’s illustrations of Feluda in his novels. When
I first read Feluda novels I told Ray that Feluda’s sketches resembled him. Ray who had a very good sense of humor told
me that everybody had been telling him that the sketches resembled me.
In an interview with – Pallavi Bhattacharya, March 13, 2005
The complete interview
Soumitra Chatterjee (born 1935) is a Bengali actor from India, most famous for his frequent collaborations with the great
Indian director Satyajit Ray. Popularly known by his first name, Soumitra appeared in 14 of Ray's 34 films, and his centrality
to Ray's work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema - Mifune & Kurosawa, Mastroianni & Fellini, or
De Niro & Scorsese.
Soumitra studied at Calcutta University, graduating with honours in literature. His film debut came in 1959, when he played
the role of Apu in Apur Sansar, the final segment of Ray's Apu trilogy. Other notable collaborations with Ray included Teen
Kanya, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Ashani Sanket. Soumitra won the lasting affection of Bengali filmgoers through his
portrayal of Feluda, a popular detective character also created by Ray, in films such as Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath.
Besides working with Ray, Soumitra excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali directors such as Mrinal Sen and
Tapan Sinha. He played the role of Shekhar in the 1969 Ajoy Kar version of Parineeta. Soumitra has also been active in Bengali
theatre as an actor, playwright and director. He is a well-known poetry reciter, and has acted on TV and in indigenous folk
drama (jatra).
Soumitra has received the 'Officier des Arts et Metiers', the highest award for arts given by the French government, and a
lifetime achievement award from Italy. He turned down the honorary Padma Shri award from the Indian government in the seventies;
more recently, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India. He has been the subject of a full-length documentary
by French director Catherine Berge.
|
The current Feluda... Sabyasachi Chakraborty
Has acted in more number of lficks as Feluda, which include,
Bakshya Rahasya, Bombaiyer Bombetey and Goshaipur Sargaram. Though out of these, Bombaiyer Bombetey was full fledged theatre
release. The upcoming project being 'Tintorettor Jishu' !
|