It is a fitting tribute that veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee has been chosen for the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke award. His association with the great Satyajit Ray is legendary. In fact, he was preferred by Ray for his ability to portray the characters of his choice effortlessly. It was also said that Ray wrote screenplays keeping Soumitra in mind! Ghare Baire was an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's classic of the same name. Who can forget his portrayal of a radical revolutionary caught in a love triangle in that movie? In Shakha Proshakha , Chatterjee wove a stellar performance in the role of a mentally handicapped son of an ageing patriarch, and the only source of his father's solace as his siblings squabble. Besides Ray, he dished out superb cinema with Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha.
Vijayalakshmi Swaminathan,
Chennai
The decision to honour Mr. Chatterjee with the Dadasaheb Phalke has brought absolute delight for connoisseurs of Indian films. The films of Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Goutam Ghose, Rituparno Ghose, Aparna Sen bear testimony to the genius of Mr. Chatterjee. And his historic bond with Satyajit Ray ensured as many as 14 classics which are nothing but unfathomable delight.
However, Chatterjee excelled not only in so-called parallel movies; he was also popular and successful as a romantic commercial star of Bengali cinema.
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata
