RIP Soumitra Chatterjee 🙏
Still can't believe it, what a massive loss this is for Bengal…India…cinema…*all* of us really.
Seemed like he was always part of our lives, and always would be. As long as I can remember, his name was uttered with awed reverence/glee/laughter/that familiar affection with which Bengalis always seem to refer to their heroes, like they're just one of us.
By the time I caught up to him he was already in his venerated phase. Ma took me to the film festival in Doha to see Ghare Baire…what a treat to see my first #SatyajitRay film, on the big screen, and what a treat to see so many other legendary figures, and there he was, amongst all those legends, the one and only: Soumitra.
He was always Soumitra, no? No -da/ji necessary, the one, familiar, familial, name was enough.
And what a treat it was to go back and discover his filmography with the one, the *only* Satyajit. What a run they had together, I daresay(I dare, I *dare*!), perhaps the *greatest* director-star duo of 'em all? Right off the bat with Apur Sansar, he was the very *embodiment* of the Bengali holy trinity: Tragic Romantic Melancholy.
And after that a quicksilver, eclectic cast of characters for the maestro: funny, brooding, serious, dashing, wise, impetuous, and all the many shades in between.
Unlike the others who made the crossover to #Bollywood (Sharmila, Mithun, Prosenjit & Biswajit, Rakhee, Utpal, Sushmita, Suchitra[?] etc…toldja, single-name only), Soumitra, like matinee idol Uttam, didn't really, not totally, and she always remained, so to speak, ours…
Dare I say(I dare, I *dare*) Aranyer Din Ratri is my favourite Ray, if not favourite-favourite, but certainly amongst his most underrated(along with Aparajito).
And Charulata…no, that's a TBT story for another day…*too* much to unpack there!
There were other movies with other directors, and I now have the time to catch up on those 300-or-so(! hey, all we have is time now, no?).
I read somewhere that he feared if he didn't work he wouldn't exist…he had no reason to fear, as long as there are Bengalis, and cinema, and, ya know, *us*, you will always be ours.
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#RIP #Soumitra #Chatterjee #Bengal #Bengali #India #Indian #WestBengal #film #cinema #actor #legend
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Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) (1959)
Charulata (The Lonely Wife) (1964)
Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest) (1970)
Devi (The Goddess) (1960)
Ghare Baire (The Home and the World) (1984)
Ganashatru (Enemy of the People) (1989)
Teen Kanya (Three Daughters) (1961)
Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) (1974)
Abhijaan (The Expedition) (1962)
Kapurush (The Coward) (1965)
Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder) (1973)
Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God) (1979)
Shakha Proshakha (Branches of the Tree) (1990)
Heerak Rajar Deshe (The Kingdom of Diamonds) (1980)
Kshudhita Pashan (1960)
Jhinder Bandi (1961)
Akash Kusum (1965)
Nyay Anyay (1981)
The Bong Connection (2006)
The Bengali Night (La nuit Bengali) (1988)
Shadows of Time (2004)
The Tree (1998)
Podokkhep (2006)
Angshumaner Chhobi (2009)
Bridge (2016)
Ballygunge Court (2007)
Punasha (1961)
Pratinidhi (1964)
Parineeta (The Fiancee) (1969)
Stree (1972)
Aparna (1972)
Debdas (1979)
Pankhiraj (1980)
Indira (1983)
Ekti Jiban (Portrait of a Life) (1988)
Prateek (1988)
Adda (2019)
Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour)
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