Soumitra Chatterjee left us for a heavenly abode last year due to COVID-19 related issues. It was a shock for everyone as he was the doyen of the Bengali Film industry. He was content with the kind of work he was doing in his regional industry to even give a thought to Bollywood. He was one of the fortunate few who got to work with the legendary Satyajit Ray, in fact, Chatterjee had mentioned in one of his interviews that the filmmaker was highly possessive of him. That equation began when Ray met Chatterjee for Aparajito. While he wasn't greenlighted for the latter, Ray got the idea for a third film in the Apu Trilogy because of Chatterjee. A Staunch Leftist, Soumitra Chatterjee Spoke About Socio-Political Issues Through His Roles

Speaking to Indian Express, Soumitra Chatterjee had said. "I was in college when Pather Panchali (1955) was released. When Manikda (as Ray is fondly called) was looking for someone to play the lead in Aparajito (1956), a friend of mine, who was assisting him, introduced me to him. He found me to be too grown up and tall for that role. Aparajito travelled to Venice Film Festival and got the best film award (the Golden Lion). At a press conference there, Manikda declared that he was going to make the third part of the trilogy. After he returned to Kolkata, he mentioned that he had someone in mind for the role of the adult Apu. I had no inkling that he was considering me. Some years after the making of Apur Sansar, I was told it’s after meeting me that he made up his mind about making the third film of the trilogy."

Soumitra Chatterjee's demise is the biggest loss that the Indian film industry has seen after perhaps Uttam Kumar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2021 08:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).