“A gentle soul and abundant talent,” wrote Amitabh Bachchan in a moving post for Bengal’s celebrated actor Soumitra Chatterjee on Sunday. Soumitra Chatterjee, 85, died on Sunday afternoon in Kolkata. Paying a tribute to the iconic actor of the Bengali cinema, Amitabh Bachchan shared a picture of himself and the late actor and described him as “one of the mightiest pillars of film industry
” He tweeted: “Soumitra Chatterjee… an iconic legend… one of the mightiest pillars of the film industry, has fallen…a gentle soul and abundant talent…last met him at the IFFI in Kolkata…prayers.” In his blog, Big B wrote: “Soumitra Chatterjee .. a prolific giant and icon .. a legend of the Bengal Film Industry .. passes away .. just prayers for the departed soul and a helplessness… met him last at the IFFI at Kolkata…. a gentle human, humble and filled with grace.”
Soumitra Chatterjee’s last rites were performed at Keoratala Crematorium in Kolkata on Sunday evening with complete police honours. The funeral was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as well as several Bengali cinema celebrities and hundreds of fans.
The thespian was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic on October 6 with COVID-19. His recovered from the virus in few days but his health condition worsened as days passed. Shortly after he tested negative for the virus, he was put on life support and on Saturday, he stopped responding to any of the treatments. “Soumitra Chatterjee is not responding to treatment. Even miracles may fall short in this situation,” a doctor who was treating him in Kolkata’s Belle Vue Clinic had said on Saturday.
After Soumitra Chatterjee’s death, an official statement was released that read: “We declare with heavy heart that Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay breathed his last at 12-15 pm at Belle Vue Clinic today . We pay our homage to his soul.”
Soumitra Chatterjee was best-known for playing the roles of Apu in Apur Sansar and Feluda in Sonar Kella and Joy Baba Felunath, all three directed by Satyajit Ray. He collaborated with Satyajit Ray for 14 times. Some of their films are Charulata, Devi, Teen Kanya, Ghare Baire, and Ganashatru.
