Shekhar Chatterjee (1924–1990) was an Indian actor and film director.

Career

Chatterjee was born in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in 1924. He began his career in the Bengali theatre in the 1950s. He was associated with a number of

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...

theatre groups, including the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

Indian People's Theatre Association Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cult ...

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little T ...

's Little Theatre Group, and

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of ...

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West En ...

, as well as his own group, Theatre Unit, which he formed in 1958. As a stage actor he was well known for his

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an 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 Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

, 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 ''Sabar Uparey'' ( bn, সবার উপরে; ''English: Beyond All'') is a 1955 Indian Bengali-language crime thriller film produced by M.P Production Private Ltd and directed by Agradoot, based on A.J. Cronin's 1953 novel, '' Beyond This P ...

''; he later had memorable roles in several of

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...

's films, including '' Bhuvan Shome'', '' Ek Adhuri Kahani'', '' Chorus'', and '' Mrigayaa''. His biggest international role was that of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...

's biographical epic ''

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

''. 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 as best Bengali film at the 31st National Film Awards. The

Directorate of Film Festivals The Directorate of Film Festivals in India was an organisation that initiated and presented the International Film Festival of India, the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama. Although the Directorate helped appoint members of the jur ...

cited it for "its sincere attempt to depict the struggle against social injustice".

Filmography

As actor

As director

As screenwriter

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Shekhar 1920s births 1990 deaths 20th-century Indian male actors Bengali male actors Bengali theatre personalities Film directors from Kolkata Indian male film actors Indian male stage actors Indian People's Theatre Association people Indian theatre directors Male actors from Kolkata Male actors in Bengali cinema Male actors in Hindi cinema Male Shakespearean actors