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Shekhar Chatterjee is a Actor
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Shekhar Chatterjee
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Shekhar Chatterjee (born c. 1924 in Calcutta) is a Bengali actor and director.
Chatterjee began his career in the Bengali theatre in the 1950s. He was associated with a number of leftist theatre groups, including the Commmunist Party's Indian People's Theatre Association, Utpal Dutt's Little Theatre Group, and Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as well as his own group, Theatre Unit, which he formed in 1958. As a stage actor he was well known for his Shakespearean roles and for playing Shardul Singh in Dutt's 1965 play Kallol. His directorial work focused on works by German-language playwrights Bertold Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Peter Handke, and Franz Xaver Kroetz. Chatterjee's Brecht productions were rarely adapted to a local setting, and while critics unanimously praised this approach as "authentic", his colleague Dutt attacked it for failing to communicate Brecht's political symbolism to an Indian audience.
Chatterjee was also active in Bengali, Indian, and world cinema, having acted in nearly a hundred films by the time he was sixty. Among his first credited roles was in Agradoot's 1955 film noir Sabar Uparey; he later had memorable roles in several of Mrinal Sen's films, including Bhuvan Shome, Ek Adhuri Kahani, Chorus, and Mrigayaa. His biggest international role was that of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in Richard Attenborough's biographical epic Gandhi. Casting director Dolly Thakore recommended Chatterjee for the role after seeing him onstage in Calcutta and noting that he shared Suhrawardy's large stature.
In 1983, Chatterjee directed the film Vasundhara, which was awarded Best Bengali Film at the 31st National Film Awards. The Directorate of Film Festivals cited it for "its sincere attempt to depict the struggle against social injustice".
Chatterjee began his career in the Bengali theatre in the 1950s. He was associated with a number of leftist theatre groups, including the Commmunist Party's Indian People's Theatre Association, Utpal Dutt's Little Theatre Group, and Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, as well as his own group, Theatre Unit, which he formed in 1958. As a stage actor he was well known for his Shakespearean roles and for playing Shardul Singh in Dutt's 1965 play Kallol. His directorial work focused on works by German-language playwrights Bertold Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Peter Handke, and Franz Xaver Kroetz. Chatterjee's Brecht productions were rarely adapted to a local setting, and while critics unanimously praised this approach as "authentic", his colleague Dutt attacked it for failing to communicate Brecht's political symbolism to an Indian audience.
Chatterjee was also active in Bengali, Indian, and world cinema, having acted in nearly a hundred films by the time he was sixty. Among his first credited roles was in Agradoot's 1955 film noir Sabar Uparey; he later had memorable roles in several of Mrinal Sen's films, including Bhuvan Shome, Ek Adhuri Kahani, Chorus, and Mrigayaa. His biggest international role was that of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in Richard Attenborough's biographical epic Gandhi. Casting director Dolly Thakore recommended Chatterjee for the role after seeing him onstage in Calcutta and noting that he shared Suhrawardy's large stature.
In 1983, Chatterjee directed the film Vasundhara, which was awarded Best Bengali Film at the 31st National Film Awards. The Directorate of Film Festivals cited it for "its sincere attempt to depict the struggle against social injustice".
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Filmography of Shekhar Chatterjee (12 films)
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Gandhi (1982)
, 3h11Directed by Richard Attenborough
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Biography, Adventure, Historical
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about racism
Actors Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Martin Sheen, Edward Fox, Roshan Seth, John Gielgud
Roles Suhrawardy
Rating79%
The screenplay of Gandhi is available as a published book. The film opens with a statement from the filmmakers explaining their approach to the problem of filming Gandhi's complex life story:
Kondura (1978)
, 2h17Directed by Shyam Benegal
Genres Drama
Actors Smita Patil, Vanisri, Anant Nag, Amrish Puri, Satyadev Dubey, Sulabha Deshpande
Rating71%
Mrigayaa (1976)
Directed by Mrinal Sen
Genres Drama
Actors Mithun Chakraborty, Mamata Shankar, Anoop Kumar, Tom Alter, Shekhar Chatterjee
Rating69%
Set in the 1930s, the film is about a group of tribals who live in a small village in Orissa amidst wild animals like tigers and boars. Apart from the problems faced by the animals that ruin the harvest, they also suffer in the hands of the greedy moneylenders and police informers. Around this time, a newly posted British administrator arrives at the village who happens to be passionate on hunting. He befriends Ghinua, a native tribal who is also an exceptional archer. The two get into a deal where Ghinua will be rewarded if he brings a "big game".
Chorus (1974)
Directed by Mrinal Sen
Actors Utpal Dutt, Rabi Ghosh, Shekhar Chatterjee, Moon Moon Sen, Subhendu Chatterjee
Rating75%
Interview (1971)
, 1h41Directed by Mrinal Sen
Genres Drama
Actors Ranjit Mallick, Karuna Banerjee, Shekhar Chatterjee
Rating78%
Ranjit Mullick is a smart personable young man. A friend of the family, who works in a foreign firm, has assured him of a lucrative job in his firm. All Ranjit has to do is to appear in an interview, dressed in a western style suit.
Ek Adhuri Kahani (1971)
Directed by Mrinal Sen
Genres Drama
Actors Utpal Dutt, Shekhar Chatterjee, Shobha Sen
Rating69%
Bhuvan Shome (1969)
, 1h36Directed by Mrinal Sen
Genres Drama
Actors Utpal Dutt, Suhasini Mulay, Shekhar Chatterjee, Amitabh Bachchan
Rating71%
Bhuvan Shome, a widower and a dedicated civil servant — strict, uncompromising – takes a holiday which transforms him irreparably though at the same time heightening his sense of isolation.
Bhuvan Shome (1969)
, 1h36Origin Inde
Genres Drama
Actors Utpal Dutt, Suhasini Mulay, Shekhar Chatterjee, Amitabh Bachchan
Rating71%
Les mésaventures comiques d'un fonctionnaire bourgeois indien affecté d'une rigidité très victorienne. Selon Mrinal Sen, dans le film, « il s'agit moins de dompter le bureaucrate que de le "débaucher" ; c'est une fable amorale. »
The Zoo (1967)
, 2h5Directed by Satyajit Ray
Genres Drama, Adventure, Crime
Actors Uttam Kumar, Subhendu Chatterjee, Shekhar Chatterjee, Chinmoy Roy
Roles (as Shekhar Chattopadhyay)
Rating71%
The story revolves around a retired judge, Mr. Nishanath Sen, who stays at a farm house called Golap Colony (The Rose Colony) at the outskirts of Calcutta. The people who stay in the colony are a strange melee of handicaps, social outcasts and ex-convicts. One day the judge is murdered under mysterious circumstances. The local police assign Byomkesh to the investigation. As a close acquaintance of Sen, Byomkesh is more than willing to solve the murder mystery. Through many twists and turns in the story, he goes on to solve the mystery.
Joradighir Chowdhury Paribar (1966)
Genres Drama
Actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Bhanu Bandyopadhyay, Tarun Kumar, Bikash Roy, Kali Banerjee
Rating64%
The Expedition (1962)
, 2h30Directed by Satyajit Ray
Genres Drama
Actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Waheeda Rehman, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Rabi Ghosh, Shekhar Chatterjee
Roles Rameshwar
Rating78%
Soumitra Chatterjee plays Narsingh, a taxi driver. Narsingh is a proud and hot-tempered Rajput with a passion for his car, a vintage 1930 Chrysler and his Rajput heritage. Being a descendent of a royal Rajput family, his self-esteem is reflected through his inability to accept insult and defeat, as a result of which he even takes part in a small race with his car. He does not want to be the one who falls behind and develops a strong hatred for women and mankind in general. As a result of reckless driving, while overtaking the car which carried the district inspector, his licence is taken from him. He is utterly destroyed by it, since the cab was his life after his wife had left him for good. Deeply affected by the insult and a feeling of rootlessness, he decides to go back to the land of rajput where his true rajput lineage will be respected. While on an aimless journey, Narasingh is picked up by Sukharam who is a local Marwari businessman with a record of smuggling and human trafficking.