Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay (Shoumitro Chôttopaddhae; born 19 January 1935) is an Indian film and stage actor, reciter, poet and artist. He is best known for his collaborations with Oscar-winning film director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films. Soumitra Chattopadhyay is also the first Indian film personality conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest award for artists. He is also the winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which is India's highest award for cinema. In 2018 exactly thirty years after auteur Satyajit Ray was honoured with France's highest civilian award, the coveted Legion of Honor, thespian Soumitra Chatterjee, arguably, the most prominent face of Ray's films, also received the prestigious award as the first ever Indian actor. Starting with his debut film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959), 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), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969); Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973); Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974) as Feluda and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Feluda, Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984) 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), Asit Sen in Swaralipi (1961), Ajoy Kar in Saat Pake Bandha (1963), Parineeta (1969), and Tarun Mazumdar in Sansar Simante (1975) and Ganadevata (1978). He acted more than 210 films in his career till 2016. He also received critical favour for his directorial venture Streer Patra which is based on the story of the same name by Tagore. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2004. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. He has won two National Film Awards as an actor, and as an actor in Bengali theatre, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1998, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama. In 2013, IBN LIVE named him as one of "The men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema". In 2014, he received the introductory Filmfare Awards East for Best Male Actor (Critics) for his role in Rupkatha Noy. He won 7 Filmfare Awards. In 2006 he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film Podokkhep.

Update this biography »
Complete biography of Soumitra Chatterjee »