Raima Sen: Soumitra Chatterjee was so down to earth despite his huge body of work (FIRST PERSON)

Raima Sen will remember Soumitra Chattopadhyay as the first actor she worked with in the new normal. She shared screen space with the iconic actor in “The Bong Connection”, “Nishijapon”, “Maach Mishti & More” and “Chhaya Manush”.

BY RAIMA SEN

I just got the news (of his death). We had shot together recently, in August. We were shooting for a documentary. I had a guest appearance in the film and I remember he was fine at that time.

Because of the current situation, there was social distancing the last time we worked together. That’s my last memory of him. I will always remember how, after lockdown, he was the first person I shot with.

It is sad to know that he had Covid and was hospitalised. There were other complications, too.

It is a huge loss to the Bengali film industry because he was working very actively. He was 85 and it is very rare to see an actor of his age keep on working with the energy that he had.

The last time we worked together, I had about an hour’s shoot with him. I recall his joy as we chatted about his grandson.

I have done many films with him. My mom (Moon Moon Sen) and grandmother (Suchitra Sen) knew him, too. He was my grandmom’s co-actor. My mom has also worked with him. So, I had seen him a lot in my growing-up years.

I will always remember him as an extremely humble person despite his stature. He would come on set and just sit in a corner. There was no fuss about him. He would talk to and interact with everybody on the set, and be polite to everyone. He had such a huge body of work and still he was so down to earth. He was a natural actor. He was very flawless and spontaneous in his performances.

(As told to Natalia Ningthoujam)