Soumitra Chatterjee lives just two houses away from us.We do meet him from time to time doing such mundane things as buying vegetables or taking a morning walk.We,at Golf Green,Calcutta are immensely proud that a world famous actor lives in our area.But,to the man.In the world of bengali movies there are two super-mega stars.One of them is Uttam Kumar.The other is Soumitra.Frankly there have beeen no other stars.Soumitra Chatterjee was introduced by none other than the Oscar-winning Satyajit Ray in the last movie of his Apu triogy,’Apur Sansar’(The world of Apu).Soumitra excelled as the vacillating,confused young man who must nevertheless do his duties.In time Soumitra became to Ray what Toshiro Mifune was to Akira Kurasowa.That is Ray scarcely wrote a film without Soumitra being part of it.On the commercial front Soumitra was always a better actor than Uttam.However he could never escape his arty image.Given that the gent writes poetry and does group theatre gave himan intellectual aura.Down the years Soumitra has delivered some great performances.I remember,’Ashani Sanket’(Distant Thunder),’Agradani’(The outcast),’Ekti Jiban’(One life’),’Tin Bhubaner Pare’(Utopia).Please dont consider this my insolence but I think Sivaji Ganesan is the only other indian actor of Soumitra’s calibre.Its strange that for all hs talent and hard work Mr Soumitra Chatterjee was never given a National Award while his bete noire Uttam became the first indian actor to be decorated thus.One thing is clear though.Uttam is a people’s icon who is loved by bengalis alone.But for the cinegoing public worldwide Soumitra Chatterjee is a name that is pronounced with respect and reverence.

Who is your all time favorite movie personality?

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