Soumitra NATIONAL BEST ACTOR 2006
1991. Aurora Film Studio of Kolkata. Art director Nitish Roy was busy in shooting of his directorial debut EK PASLA BRISTI. Soumitra Chatterjee was playing the major role in that film. I was there to cover the shooting for an Assamese journal BISMOI and that was my first meeting with Soumitrada.
I always wanted to see Dada receiving the prestigious RAJAT KAMAL. “Dada , do you think that this time you will walk away with the ‘Rajat Kamal’ award for the Best Actor, for your work in ‘Sakha Prasakha’ ?
Soumitrada stared at me for a while and smiled a brief smile loaded with sadness.
2006. Perhaps Soumitrada has lost his all excitement for the award. After portraying central characters in 14 films by Satyajit Ray and many other noteworthy films, finally RAJAT KAMAL came to him. The film was “Padokhyep” by Suman Ghosh.
I called him up and congratulated him, with all humility he accepted my warm wishes, but I felt he was smiling with the same smile which I saw long 15 years back in Aurora studio make up room.
In a television interview, he went on to say that an award at this junction of his life and career did not have much to be excited or motivated about. But he has accepted the award only as a mark of respect and gratitude to his fans. When he went on to the stage to receive the National Award, a standing ovation was enough and obvious for everyone to understand that he was a significant personality of Indian cinema despite that his realm was confined to the precincts of regional cinema.
Soumitrada is always labelled as an actor of the Satyajit Ray as he portrayed most of the leading roles in Satyajit Ray’s film. I believe, Satyajit Ray has found himself in Soumitra.
But for us Soumitra is more than an actor. He is a poet who recollects emotion in tranquillity, excellent oratory and recitation (it was always an out of the world experience to have an opportunity to hear him recite innumerable Bengali poems , particularly poems of Jeevanananda’s BANALATA SEN ), dramatist and a writer of personal essay.
Soumitra believes that- ‘The perspective of life, its understanding, and association of oneself with it, is but what technically transforms an artisan to the calibre of an artist.’ Soumitra has blended imagination, dreams and beauty of life into a total package and has presented it upon the silver screen. His works leave behind an indelible mark on the innermost recesses of the heart and mind of his audience and establishes him not just as a Film actor, but a committed and devoted artist and performer who touches the heart and stirs the soul of an individual.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Oh, you heard him do Banalata Sen. That inflection when ends each para is unparalleled. As a recitor, his best is when he does satirical poems. That dry but powerful witty way he modulates his voice. Actually, his voice modulations are acting curriculums in themselves.
Utpal, thank you for allowing me to relive those moments in Rabindro Sadan years back!
@Indraneel. I am touched by your kind gesture. I think writers live for such wonderful moments. Thanks once again.
The recognition of Sourmitra was indeed belated, which perhaps also belittles it.
On the other hand, there’s another woe for Bangla cinema… there’s hardly any worthwhile actor. The post-Puluda generation has failed to match up to its counterparts in other regions, especially the South.
Thanks Joyjeet.
Welcome aboard Utpal saab
hot favourite of satyajit ray soumitra chattergee’s felitation in the national awards is to be seen as honour of vetran actor