He turned down a National Award 11 years back but legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee is proud to receive this year's Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest recognition in Indian cinema.
"I am happy and feeling good. At least this award is away from any competitive politics. I have been working for more than 50 years and I feel really happy that my work has been recognised," Soumitra said from Kolkata.
The 77-year-old actor had turned down the special jury award for best actor in 2001 to protest the bias of national film awards committee in selecting mainstream cinema.
This time, however, the jury chose Soumitra over veterans actors like Pran, Manoj Kumar and Vyjantimala.
Considered one of the finest actors India ever produced, Soumitra is known for his long association with legendary Satyajit Ray, starring in 14 of his films. He made his film debut in Ray's 1959 film
Apur Sansar and went on to act in several other of his masterpieces like
Devi,
Charulata and
Ghare Baire.
Some of his finest performances came in the role of detective Prodosh Mitter (Feluda) in Ray's
Sonar Kella and
Joy Baba Felunath as also a school teacher fighting against a despot king in
Hirok Rajar Deshe.
Soumitra
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