Happy Teacher’s Day: ‘Mentor’ Satyajit Ray still inspires ‘Student’ Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee’s unmatched contribution to Bengali art and culture has always been tagged with cinema and that also, only with the name of a maestro Satyajit Ray and his classic works. He’s even called by many as Ray’s ‘alter ego’.
Soumitra had the opportunity to act in as many as 14 films directed by Ray which came with so many diverse layers of characterization, style, presentation and performance.For example, ‘Apur Sansar’ was completely different from what ‘Abhijan’ portrayed. ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ gifted a whole new Soumitra to Bengali cinema who had no resemblance with the Soumitra we witnessed in ‘Ganashatru’, ‘Shakha Proshakha’ or even in the Feluda series.
In fact no interview of Soumitra Chatterjee is without revisiting his golden memories associated with Ray whom he has often called his mentor. Despite his demise, Satyajit Ray is still alive for him and also inspiring him to go ahead even at the age of 85.

“Many call me Satyajit ray’s alter ego. I think that’s a correct perception. I think it wasn’t just my versatility and technical ability as an actor that made him take me in so many of his films. There must have been a spiritual connection. He was a senior member of a generation of which I was a very junior member. He was so supremely talented; nothing but a genius. I can never think of putting myself next to him. But our outlook and philosophy towards life, our likes and dislikes, looking at life from a certain standpoint, were common. I could thus almost instinctively guess what he wanted from me as an actor, and he knew what I was capable of. Otherwise, so early in my career, how could he cast me in that very challenging role in Abhijaan? He taught me how to act besides Tapan Sinha—the only other person who guided me and to whom I’m indebted. Tapanda offering me the villain’s role in Jhinder Bondi was a leap for me as an actor,” said the thespian in an exclusive chat with ETimes when speaking about his mentor.

To pay his respect and homage to his mentor, Soumitra has even written a book ‘The Master and I’, in which he recalls his experience of working with Ray. He has superbly preserved his golden memories of the famous filmmaker in a small box to unlock it years after in this book.