Soumitra Chatterjee, legend of Indian cinema, dies at 85



[ad_1]

12:54 PM PST 11/15/2020

through

The Associated Press

The actor died of complications from the coronavirus on Sunday.

Soumitra Chatterjee, the legendary Indian actor with over 200 films to his name and famous for his work with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, died of complications from the coronavirus on Sunday. He was 85 years old.

Chatterjee’s daughter Poulami Bose said her father died in a hospital in Kolkata city, West Bengal state, where he had been staying since testing positive for the virus in early October. He is also survived by his wife and a son.

Chatterjee had a career in Bengali-language films that spanned six decades and was best known for his work with Ray, one of the world’s most influential Indian directors, whose films have received critical acclaim and won awards. numerous awards around the world, placing India on the world cinema map. .

Chatterjee’s films with Ray that have gained worldwide recognition include Apur Sansar (“The World of Apu”), the third in the director’s internationally acclaimed Apu trilogy, Charulata (“The Lonely Woman”), Aranyer Din Ratri (“Days and nights in the forest”), Ghare Baire (“Home and the world”) and Ganashatru (“Enemy of the people”).

Telegraph India, an English-language newspaper published in Kolkata, wrote in its obituary for Chatterjee that it had a corpus of 14 titles with director Ray “which would have ensured him immortality even if he had done nothing wrong. other in life. “

Despite his immense popularity in Bengali cinema, Chatterjee has stayed away from Bollywood. But for 90 million Bengalis, he was a cultural icon and an unforgettable star.

“International, Indian and Bengali cinema has lost a giant,” tweeted Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal. “He will be sorely missed. The film world in Bengal is an orphan.”

In 2012, Chatterjee received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honor in Indian cinema. In 2017, he became the first personality of Indian cinema to be awarded to the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest French distinction for artists.

Before embarking on his film career in 1959, Chatterjee worked as a presenter at All India Radio in Kolkata. He was also an accomplished playwright and poet.

In an interview in 2016, Chatterjee showed her indomitable spirit of acting even in old age. “I have a fear: if I don’t work, I won’t exist,” he says.



[ad_2]

Source link