The world of Apu and Soumitra Chatterjee’s legacy

Bengalis and cinephiles know their Apu and Feluda well, but the life and work of a versatile actor, poet, artist, theatreperson need to be celebrated even more widely. A new biography, Soumitra Chatterjee and His World, by journalist Sanghamitra Chakraborty, aims to fill the gap, and presents Chatterjee in all his myriad selves. Moderated by historian Priyadarshinee Guha, Ms. Chakraborty and Soumitra Chatterjee’s daughter, Poulomi, also a theatre person, regaled a full house with anecdotes and readings from the book, looking back at an extraordinary life rooted in Bengal’s culture. Ms. Chakraborty said Chatterjee was lucky in having three mentors – Rabindranath Tagore, theatre great Shishir Bhaduri and Satyajit Ray of course. But as Ms. Chakraborty writes in the book, though Bengalis across generations have been “locked in bloody feuds” over the two, Soumitra Chatterjee and Uttam Kumar were friends -- they bonded well, and had some “secret meetings” despite “occasional tiffs.” Over ten sections, Ms. Chakraborty profiles Chatterjee’s life and career, devoting three chapters to his Ray phase, before going on to describe his work on stage, his poetry, editorship and art.