Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The screening of Soumitra Chatterjee Revisited proved to be insightful for his fans and co-stars. While the movie produced by Suresh Menon of Films Division and directed by Sandip Roy chronicled his filmi career,before the screening several diginitaries narrated interesting incidents that helped everyone to know the man behind the actor. Chatterjees daughter Paulomi Basu started off by narrating how the actor performed his various roles of a husband,father and grandfather with great responsibility. Academician Bharati Ray of Tagore Centre showered accolades on the actor who is a renowned poet and jointly edited one of the most widely-read literary magazines in Bengali titled Ekkhon Now. Chatterjee is also a writer,playwright,translator,theatre director and artiste who has graced Bengali cinema for more than five decades.
Danseuse-actress Mamata Shankar,who has worked opposite Chatterjee in several films,related anecdotes from her interactions with Chatterjee. She recalled how he maintains himself at the ripe age of 75 through his morning walk of five kilometers and a strict diet.
The film mentions the innumerable awards Chatterjee has won 8211; the Officier des Arts et Metiers, the highest award from France, a Lifetime Achievement award from Italy, and a full-length documentary devoted to him, The Tree by French director Catherine Berge. There are shots of Chatterjee on his morning walk nodding to a fellow-walker, talking about his long bonding with Ray who introduced him in Apur Sansar 1959 through his career that spans every genre of film. Cinematographed by Jayprakash and K. Sridhar,edited by Atish Nandy with S.K. Prusty and B. Suresh Kumar backing up with the sound design,Soumitra Revisited should find its rightful place in the archives of Indian cinema.
