Actors - Soumitra Chatterjee

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	Actors - Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee (born 1935) is a Bengali actor from India, most famous for his frequent collaborations with the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. Popularly known by his first name, Soumitra appeared in 14 of Ray's 34 films, and his centrality to Ray's work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema - Mifune & Kurosawa, Mastroianni & Fellini, or De Niro & Scorsese.

Soumitra studied at Calcutta University, graduating with honours in literature. His film debut came in 1959, when he played the role of Apu in Apur Sansar, the final segment of Ray's Apu trilogy
. Other notable collaborations with Ray included Teen Kanya
, Charulata
, Aranyer Din Ratri and Ashani Sanket. Soumitra won the lasting affection of Bengali filmgoers through his portrayal of Feluda, a popular detective character also created by Ray, in films such as Sonar Kella
and Joi Baba Felunath
.

Besides working with Ray, Soumitra excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. He played the role of Shekhar in the 1969 Ajoy Kar version of Parineeta. Soumitra has also been active in Bengali theatre as an actor, playwright and director. He is a well-known poetry reciter, and has acted on TV and in indigenous folk drama (jatra).

Soumitra has received the 'Officier des Arts et Metiers', the highest award for arts given by the French government, and a lifetime achievement award from Italy. He turned down the honorary Padma Shri award from the Indian government in the seventies; more recently, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India. He has been the subject of a full-length documentary by French director Catherine Berge.

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