I know of very few women who did not fall under the spell of Soumitra Chatterjee after watching a film or two. For me, Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) and Ghore Baire (1984) did the job (Although Victor Banerjee did steal some of the thunder in the latter film). Unlike Bangla cinema’s other universal crush, Uttam Kumar, Soumitra enjoyed a long life, paving way for more admirers to accidentally bump into him at one point or another. And on a winter evening, exactly 2 years back, our paths crossed in a most unusual way.
I, along with two fellow film-makers, were in India as jury members for Siliguri Short and Documentary Film Festival in November, 2018. After the festival, before going back to Bangladesh, we had two nights to while away in Kolkata. That is when one of our beloved mentors, Premendra Mazumder, General Secretary of Federation of Film Societies, India, invited us for coffee at the Film and Television Institute, Kolkata at Bhawanipur. Little did we know about who else we could be expecting to meet there.
Director Tasmiah Afrin Mou and I took a long cab drive to the other side of town on that day. At the institute’s entrance stood two larger than life-sized posters of Shakib Khan in his hit, Nawab. Curious, we thought. This must be an indication that the Eskay Films’ office is also located somewhere in the vicinity.
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Inside the building, Premendra Da was nose-deep in work. Waiting for coffee and chatting with half a dozen officials there, we were soon to meet with another shocker. Soumitra Chatterjee waltzed out of one of the classrooms and sat on a chair next to me. It was the only empty chair in the room. No one in the office looked star struck. I nudged Mou to confirm this really is Soumitra, confused at everyone else’s unchanged expressions.
The actor looked very grumpy, as though he was tired of seeing strangers in his office. Yes, this was his office. He was the Chairman of the institute, we later came to know.
Our mentor introduced us to the legend, at which point a glimmer of a smile surfaced on Soumitra’s face. I mustered just enough courage to ask him if I could take a photo with him. He replied: “Only if it is not a selfie.” He drew himself up to his full height (6 feet) and Mou clicked a photo of us on my ancient phone. Even at 83, his firm posture would make most people look slouched, something no amount of Snapseeding could fix.
Premendra Da later explained to us that Soumitra also taught there regularly, which is why this was business as usual for everyone. If it wasn’t for Covid, we would have revisited the Film and Television Institute for a lecture or a workshop. But fate had other plans.
On Monday, November 15, Soumitra Chatterjee passed away, after suffering from post-Covid complications for over a month. While he can never be replaced, obviously, Bangla cinema desperately needs actors of his stature to remain relevant to the local audience after the pandemic is done eliminating legends. Maybe, as a plus, and largely thanks to Instagram, actors of that new era will even be open to selfies.
