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| Inspecting a Satyajit Ray Sculpture |
One-man stock company
By his own admission Soumitra Chatterjee was the favourite actor of Satyajit Ray. He was to Satyajit Ray, what Marcello Mastroianni was to Federico Fellini and Toshiro Mifune was to Akira Kurosawa. Critic Pauline Kael had famously described him as Satyajit Ray's 'one-man stock company'. It was indeed so for Soumitra appeared in as many as 14 films by the celluloid master, essaying major roles in films canned through three and a half decades.
His Master’s Voice
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| The master directs |
Commenting on this long creative collaboration Chidananda Dasgupta once suggested that Satyajit Ray cast him so often because of a distinct physical resemblance to the young Rabindranath Tagore. Not surprisingly, whenever Satyajit Ray attempted a fresh interpretation of Tagore's works, be it the legendary Charulata or the dark and politically charged Ghare Baire, he inevitably picked Soumitra for the male lead. When Soumitra began co-editing Ekshan, Satyajit Ray was ever ready to design the covers in his inimitable calligraphy. When Satyajit Ray started writing detective fiction for young readers, his illustrations bore remarkable similarity to Soumitra. Later Soumitra was cast in the sleuth's role in two films based on those tales. Critics remarked that character of the sleuth was modeled upon Satyajit Ray himself. Some went to extent to describing Soumitra as his alter-ego!
A year before his death Satyajit Ray wrote:
"I have cast him (Soumitra) in 14 of my 27 films. This shows my faith in him and how I rank him as an actor."
On another occasion Satyajit Ray remarked on the incredible versatility of his favourite actor:
"Soumitra has fitted in all the roles that I have cast him. He is an extremely talented actor. There is a dearth of actors of his stature in Bengal. Whenever I think of a story and its characters, I consider how Soumitra will fit into the design. That explains why I use him repeatedly in my films."
What better words did a master ever spoke about his disciple! The master acknowledged of not casting Soumitra in the lead role of Aparajito as he was too mature for it. In his autumnal years he admitted of shelving many ambitious projects for Soumitra was too seasoned to play those parts. He simply could not do without him.
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| With Sharmila in Apur Sansar |
The Ideal Apu
It was no other than Satyajit Ray who gave Soumitra his first break in Apur Sansar (1959). Besides being the last film of Apu Trilogy, Apur Sansar deviated from the film-maker's earlier scheme in many ways. Most importantly, for the first time he was using a hero in the classical sense of the term, i.e. a protagonist. Soumitra's portrayal of adult Apu, torn by his romantic sensibility and sense to duty to his family, made everyone stand up in applause. The Times reviewer wrote, "Actor Chatterjee, as a
youngman too gifted to be strong, provides an unforgettable object of the Biblical lesson (Luke 10:8) ' the children of light'". Soumitra was handsome in terms of oriental aesthetics, the west did not differ either.
Redefining the Archetype
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| Still from Ghare Baire |
Evidently, Satyajit Ray was out to redefine the archetype of a hero in his films. None of them fell into the category of boy-meets-girl romance. He found a vehicle in Soumitra. A look at the characters portrayed by Soumitra proves the point:
1959: Apu in Apur Sansar / The World of Apu
1960: Umaprasad in Devi / The Goddess
1961: Amulya in Tin Kanya / Three Daughters
1962: Narsingh in Abhijan / The Expedition
1964: Amal in Charulata/ The Lonely Wife
1965: Amitabha in Kapurush o Mahapurush
1970: Asim in Aranyer Dinratri / Days and Nights in the Forest
1973: Gangacharan in Asani Sanket / Distant Thunder
1974: Feluda in Sonar Kella / The Golden Fortress
1978: Feluda in Joy Baba Felunath / The Elephant God
1980: Udayan in Hirak Rajar Deshe / The Kingdom of Diamonds
1985: Sandip in Ghare Baire / The Home and the World
1990: Dr. Ashok Gupta in Ganashatru / Enemy of the People
1992: Prashanta in Shakha Prashakha / Branches of a Tree
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| Gangacharan in Asani Sanket |
Astounding Range
What is all the more astounding is the range of characters Satyajit Ray offered to Soumitra:
- Apu comes from the lower rungs of the society and earns his livelihood through service
- Umaprasad is the son of an aristocrat
- Amulya falls in the high income group, born in a village brought up in a city
- Narsingh is a hard-working taxi-driver belonging to the warrior-caste
- Amal is a freewheeling middle-class intellectual
- Amitabha is a middle-class screenplay writer
- Asim is a middle-class service-holder
- Gangacharan is a lower middle-class teacher
- Feluda is a middle-class private detective
- Udayan is a teacher and a rebel set in a fairly tale backdrop
- Sandip is an upper-class thinker-cum-activist living on others
- Dr Ashok Gupta is a middle-class doctor
- Prashanta is the lunatic son of an aristocrat father
Till Aranyer Dinratri, Soumitra was cast in young man's role. Since 1973 he was used in character roles befitting the age. The same year saw Pauline Kael writing for New Yorker magazine:
"Soumitra Chatterjee, Ray's one-man stock company, moves so differently in the different roles he plays them, he is almost unrecognizable. He was the passionate romantic Apu is the last film of the trilogy, the husband in Devi, the suitor in tartan socks and English book in Three Daughters, the guest in Charulata, the handsome arrogant leader of the four young men in Days and Nights in the Forest."
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| Rehearsing for Sukumar Ray |
Artistic Collaborator
Soumitra had great faith in the maestro's 'artistic vision' and always expressed his sincerest gratitude to his mentor who became a friend-philosopher-guide during his early days as an actor and remained so. "I was extremely fortunate to have him as my mentor", Soumitra said in an interview after Satyajit Ray died in 1992. The master encouraged his disciple to write down his impression as they progressed with the filming of Apur Sansar. It was he who suggested Soumitra for the lead role in Tapan Sinha's Khshudhita Pashan (1960). The disciple expressed his dismay for not being cast in the lead role of Agantuk (1992), the master's swansong. The master took him into confidence and convinced him. Soumitra never rates his performances in Satyajit Ray films but holds Charulata close to his heart. His master did the same.
Such an example of creative collaboration is hard to come by
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Satyajit Ray considered this film to be his best work. Based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore and set in 1879 during the social reform movement in colonial Kolkata, it tells of Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), the bored and neglected upper-class wife of the reformer Bhupati Dutta (Sailen Mukherjee) who pursues a political career white editing an English newspaper. He invites her older brother Umapada (Shyamal Ghosal) and his wife Manada (Gitali Roy) to move in to provide company for Charulata. Bhupati's cousin, the literary-minded Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee) also moves in. Charulata and Amal become increasingly intimate, but their acquaintance is abruptly terminated when Umapada embezzles money and disappears. Amal too leaves, guilty about Bhupati's increasing dependence on him, given his relationship with Charulata. The married couple tries to reunite at the end, after she overcomes her loss and he overcomes his feeling of betrayal. The ending, which departs from Tagore's, freezes their gesture as they reach out to one another. The film boasts some of Ray's most cinematic sequences; Amal serenading Charulata with the famous Tagore song Ami chini go chini tomare ogo bideshini and Charulata daydreaming in the garden. Charulata also has the finest film work of several Ray regulars, including set designer Banshi Chandragupta, cinematographer Subrata Mitra and lead actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee.
Born in Kolkata in a family of illustrious authors and publishers, Ray made his mark with his debut feature film Pather Panchali (1955). The film received major acclaim in on the Euro-American festival and art-house circuits making him India's first internationally recognized film-maker. He completed the so-called Apu Trilogy in 1959 with the making of Apur Sansar, the launching pad of Soumitra Chatterjee who went on to feature in 14 of his films, essaying stellar roles. Ray's early films often associated with the chronicling of transition from feudal decadence and agrarian economic systems to capitalist modernity. Their slow rhythm and celebrated attention to realist detail was backed by the expertise of Subrata Mitra and Banshi Chandragupta. Late 60s films invoke a sharper critique of urban culture and acknowledge the urban-rural divide and prefigure his major 70s shift towards contemporary Kolkata. In his last years, Ray focused exclusively on Bengali condition, making films of prevalent social milieu and commenting on the past. Also an editor of a children's magazine and a prolific writer of detective stories, Ray tried his hand in illustrations, translations and writing screenplays for others. He is a proud recipient of an Oscar for his 'lifetime achievement' in 1992, months before he breathed his last.
