Kolkata: Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee died at Kolkata’s Belle Vue Clinic Sunday at the age of 85, after a month-long battle with multiple ailments. He was diagnosed with Covid-19 last month and had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since 6 October.
Chatterjee had recovered from the Covid infection, but his condition did not improve as he suffered from several complications.
The hospital said Chatterjee died at 12.15 pm.
“His condition became very critical last night. He slipped into a deep coma and stopped responding to treatment,” a senior doctor told ThePrint.
Chatterjee is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
“We declare with heavy heart that Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay breathed his last at 12.15 pm at Belle Vue Clinic today (15 November 2020). We pay our homage to his soul,” the hospital said in its statement.
Chattopadhyay’s mortal remains would be taken to his residence in south Kolkata’s Golf Green, and then to his workplace, the Tollygunj technicians’ studio. The state government has said his funeral will take place with full state honour.
Chatterjee was India’s first film personality to have been conferred with the ‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’, France’s highest award for artistes.
Calling his death a “loss for world cinema”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “We lost a legend of world cinema. He was a versatile genius. He also extended his support to all mass movements. We tried our best and we also formed an expert committee to supervise his treatment. He did not succumb to Covid. But other age-related and post-Covid complications took a toll on him.”
She added: “It takes a huge struggle and perseverance to reach the position he was in. His demise broke us. It is a sad day not only for Bengal, but for international cinema.”
Chatterjee’s daughter Poulami Bose expressed gratitude to the state government and the CM for taking care of the actor in his last days. After a brief conversation with Banerjee, Bose, addressing the media, said, “We are overwhelmed by the support we got from Didi and her government. We will remain grateful to her for this. My father’s life and work would be celebrated forever.”
Talking to a private channel, actor Sharmila Tagore said she lost a “dear and loyal” friend and his death created a “void in international cinema”.
Also Read: Soumitra Chatterjee, the Bengali legend you probably haven’t heard of but should
‘Covid encephalopathy had set in’
On Saturday, doctors treating him at Belle Vue had said Chatterjee’s condition was “very critical and grim”, and that last efforts to revive him were being made.
The Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, who had been on life support, was not responding, a PTI report said quoting one of the doctors.
“Despite all our efforts his physiological system is not responding. It (Chatterjee’s condition) is worse than before. He has been put on all sorts of support and he is fighting for his life,” he said Saturday, adding that Covid encephalopathy had set in in his nervous system and “undid every effort”.
“We tried steroids, immunoglobulin, cardiology, anti- viral therapy, immunology everything,” the doctor said.
A team of specialists from the fields of neurology, nephrology, cardiology, critical care medicine, ID specialists had been treating and trying to revive him.
“We are sorry to say he is not responding. We are making our last efforts. Even his family has accepted it… He is almost at the point of no return,” the doctor said Saturday.
Chatterjee’s neurological condition had worsened Friday. An EEG had shown there is very little activity in the brain, the doctor had said.
The 85-year-old actor had undergone the first plasmapheresis Thursday and tracheostomy on Wednesday, according to the PTI report.
Belle Vue Clinic, the hospital that had been treating Chatterjee, is the one where most of Bengal’s legends fought their last battles. Starting from mega stars Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, to legendary director Satyajit Ray, the hospital treated many of Bengal’s stars during their last days.
Singer Kishore Kumar was also admitted to the hospital once when he suffered a massive heart attack in the early 1980s. According to reports, he spent 24 days in the hospital before returning to Mumbai.
Also read:Satyajit Ray: Cine maestro & literary genius who could say no to Indira Gandhi, Narasimha Rao
Soumitra Chatterjee — actor, writer, dramatist, poet
Chatterjee symbolised versatility in Bengal’s film industry — commonly known as ‘Tollywood’.
The thespian started his journey as an actor at the age of 24 with his debut role as adult ‘Apu’ in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apur Sansar (The world of Apu)’, the third part of Apu Trilogy, in 1959.
Since then, his smile has melted millions of hearts, his shrewdness as detective ‘Feluda’ complemented the Bengali intellect and his impish grin as the ‘good looking’ antagonist made audiences’ blood boil with his Machiavellian persona. Soumitra Chatterjee was all that on-screen and more.
The actor drew special praise for his roles in films such as ‘Teen Bhubaner Pare’, which made him the working class hero, ‘Jhinder Bandi’, one of his negative roles, and ‘Bela Seshe’, in which he portrayed the ageing householder increasingly disillusioned with a retired life. But he will be forever remembered as the sleuth, Feluda aka Pradosh C Mitter — Satyajit Ray’s immortal creation — who used ‘magajastra (brain as a weapon)’ to solve near-perfect crimes.
Apart from Apur Sansar, Chatterjee worked with Ray in 13 other films, delivering critically acclaimed movies such as Devi, Ghare Baire, Charulata and others.
He also worked with Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar and other celebrated filmmakers of Bengal. His latest film was Sanjhbati (2019).
Chatterjee was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2004, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award given by the government for cinema for lifetime achievement, in 2012.
In 2018, he received France’s highest civilian award, the Legion of Honour.
The thespian who acted in around 300 films was a dramatist, poet, writer and painter too, and was also known for his poetry recitations.
(With PTI)
Also read: Uttam Kumar — the ‘mahanayak’ who defined Bengali cinema for three decades