Soumitra Chatterjee, a performer who never lost his sense of wonder

Chatterjee has left behind a staggering legacy of cinema

Soumitra-Chatterjee1-salil (File) Soumitra Chatterjee | Salil Bera

On October 6, actor Soumitra Chatterjee was admitted to Kolkata's Belle Vue Clinic after he tested positive for COVID-19.

It was only on October 1 that Shiladitya Chaudhury, a restauranter and communications consultant, was regaling the veteran actor with his intrepid tales of wildlife photography in Africa. "I could see the thrill on this face when I was talking about my Africa experiences. He said he is not likely to go to Africa ever. So he proposed a visit to the Calcutta zoo instead, the following Sunday after 5th," recalls Chaudhury about his last meeting with Chatterjee.

Chatterjee died on November 15 due to COVID-19 induced encephalopathy. He was 85 at the time and left behind a staggering legacy of cinema for which has received multiple awards including the Padma Bhushan, France's highest civilian award Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur, two National Film Awards, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. It was his partnership with acclaimed filmmaker Satyajit Ray over several films that Chatterjee is most well-known for.

As founder-director of the YouTube channel Ministry of Muzik, Chaudhury had the rare chance to work with Chatterjee on his last creative project. Sometime in the middle of September this year, Chaudhury met Chatterjee to discuss the launch of Sukumar Ray's 'Abol Tabol' in an audiovisual format for Children's Day.

'Abol Tabol' (The Weird and the Absurd) is a collection of nonsense rhymes and limericks published in Bengali children's magazine, Sandesh. The verses were composed by Ray's father Sukumar between 1915 and 1923. They are a whimsical series of rhymes in the literary style of Edward Lear and Ogden Nash, riddled with puns, pranksters and political satire. Readers who grew up on a diet of Bengali Children's literature will easily recall memorable characters like Katth Buro, Kumro Potash, Gangaram and Bombagorer Raja from the poems. Chatterjee has recited all the 53 rhymes which will be available in a four-part series on the YouTube channel. The first part was released on November 14 with Chatterjee clad in a red Kurta, reading from a book next to a tabletop grandfather clock.

"He had always wanted to do this. He recorded 'Abol Tabol' once around 1997, but that was only in an audio format. In fact, when we wrapped up shooting for this, he expressed his willingness to do other such projects, including the series of rhymes written by Satyajit Ray called 'Toray Bandha Ghorar Dim'," says Chaudhury. Like his father, Satyajit had written a collection of nonsensical rhymes which included a translation of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Chatterjee wasn't just an actor, he could paint, sing, hold forth authoritatively on food, art and theatre and also wrote poems and short stories. On the last day of the shoot of 'Abol Tabol', when Chaudhury was dropping off Chatterjee in his car, the actor expressed his desire to direct a film. "He said 'People know me as an actor, painter, etc., but somehow I have never been able to direct.' And I said that's an excellent idea, why don't you direct a short film and let me produce it," says Chaudhury who got a call later from the actor informing him that the script was ready and that he would like to shoot the short film from March in 2021. But Chaudhury would never find out the story in the script penned by the late actor.