Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by HRoestBot (talk | contribs) at 05:48, 26 June 2010 (robot Adding: de:Dhritiman Chatterjee). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Dhritiman Chatterjee (Template:Lang-bn) is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi (The Adversary). Most of his acting work has been in the India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others. He has also worked in English language films with well-known filmmakers such as Jane Campion. He has received several acting awards in India and has been on the Jury of the Indian National film Awards.

Dhritiman pursues a parallel career in advertising, social communications and documentary filmmaking.

Never a part of mainstream "Bollywood", he's made an astonishingly small number of films. In recent years he's wandered to assignments with filmmakers as diverse as Jane Campion and hugely successful Mumbai directors Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Mani Ratnam.

Dhritiman is his screen name. He is otherwise known as Sundar Chaterji and is quite active on the English stage in Chennai. Born on 30 May 1945, he was educated at Kolkata's St Xavier's Collegiate School and Presidency College, and the Delhi School of Economics.

Filmography

• Joy Lies (2009) (in production) .... Venkat
• Chaturanga (2008) .... Uncle
• Guru (2007) .... Thapar Commission Member ... aka Gurukant (India: Telugu title) ... aka Mani Ratnam's Guru (India: English title: complete title)
• 15 Park Avenue (2005) .... Psychiatrist Dr. Kunal Barua
• Black (2005) (as Dhritiman Chaterji) .... Paul McNally
• Perfumed Garden (2000) .... Sage Vaisyzyana ... aka Tales of Kama Sutra (USA: video title)
• Holy Smoke (1999) (as Dhritiman Chaterji) .... Chidaatma Baba aka Holy Smoke! (USA: video box title)
• Kahini (1997)... aka Fiction
• Sunya Theke Suru (1993) .... Professor Bhishmadev Sharma ... aka A Return to Zero (India: English title)
• Agantuk (1991) .... Prithwish Sen Gupta ... aka The Stranger... aka The Visitor (International: English title) ... aka Visiteur, Le (France)
• Ganashatru (1989) .... Nishrith Gupta... aka An Enemy of the People (UK)
• 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) .... Samaresh Moitra
• Akaler Sandhane (1980) .... Movie Director ... aka Akaler Sandhaney ... aka In Search of Famine
• Jadu Bansha (1974)
• Padatik (1973) .... Political Activist ... aka The Guerilla Fighter
• Pratidwandi (1972) .... Siddhartha Chaudhuri ... aka Siddharta and the City ... aka The Adversary

After giving brilliant performances in films by Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen et al, Dhritiman Chatterji has shifted base to Chennai. WOULDN'T YOU think you were dreaming if you ran into a Bengali film actor at a pan shop in Besant Nagar? Especially if you had recognised him from brilliant performances in Satyajit Ray's "Pratidwandi", Mrinal Sen's "Akaler Sandhane", Aparna Sen's "36, Chowringhee Lane" and Ashoke Viswanathan's "Shunya Theke Shuru"? (This year, he narrowly missed the national award for his role in "Sapney Sandhane"). A son-in-law of the city (married to Annalakshmi), Dhritiman Chatterji (Sundar to friends) has been a frequent visitor to Chennai for years, and a city resident since 1990. Sundar's induction into the visual world came with accompanying his father on field trips where the geologist shot his own slides. Later, at the Delhi School of Economics, he helped launch the University's first film society. This brought him into early contact with major Indian film makers like Ray and Shyam Benegal. Sundar's stop gap year at the AIR in Calcutta as an announcer ended with his opting for a long-term career in advertising at Hindustan Thompson. Then Satyajit Ray cast him as the young man struggling to find a job (Pratidwandi, 1970), "I did it because it was a major role with Ray. I had no ambitions of starting from scratch and making my way up as an actor! Also, I was keen to watch Ray the director at work, and how he edited the film." After a film or two with less known but interesting projects, Sundar found himself doing "Padatik" (1973) with Mrinal Sen. His flirtation with commercial cinema was brief. "Mediocrity made it tedious. Now I can't even recall why I went into it!" He had no second thoughts about turning down Bollywood offers like "Piya ka Ghar", though not some Hindi serials with a difference. He also made documentaries on education for television. Don't art cinema and advertising make strange bedfellows? "I was very good at my job, got recognised for my work. It enabled me to keep in touch with film making through commercials and corporate films. Consumerist or not, I enjoyed producing something of really high quality. Also, I had great satisfaction in having been able to train some very good people, some of them big names in the field today." The best thing about his career was that it offered the financial freedom and flexible timings for the films that he really wanted to do, not only with celebrities, but with those eager to experiment with the medium. "Ray wrote for the actor and so you got into the rhythm very quickly. He had two distinct methods for dealing with actors - either he guided them every step of the way, or gave complete freedom as he did with me." When Sundar asked for comments he was told that they would be given only if he did what the director didn't like! Things were very different with the ebullient Sen. Whether he was shooting in Calcutta or in some remote location, the whole crew had to be together all the time, no packing up and going home till the film was finished. "Because Mrinalda was never sure when and what scene he'd be shooting next. He improvised all the time. In "Padatik" for example, no one knew how the film was going to end, least of all himself! I enjoyed being a part of that process." Sundar can also tell you that thespian Soumitra Chatterji is "so deceptive an actor, you think it's a simple scene until you see how much he can bring to it with his masterly craft!" Today, Sundar feels even more obliged to support any film project different from the run-of-the-mill because, "It is much more difficult to make a first film now, it's more expensive and gets far less audience support than when I did "Pratidwandi." After leaving Hindustan Thompson, where he had been Creative Director for years (when promotion entailed managerial responsibilities), the Chatterjis settled in Chennai, now in "Vepampoo", their home in Cholamandal village. "As one of the last of the gentlemen amateurs, I continue to act and take up advertising work on commission," he laughs. He also does TV journalism on a Bengali channel, and is consultant to a UNICEF project in Bangladesh on maternal mortality. Though his work entails

lots of travel, he is very much part of the Chennai scene at theatre shows and music concerts. He has participated in readings by the Madras Players, and done a short film for Chetan Shah, based on Asokamitran's story. "I can get by in Tamil.

What amuses me however, is that Bengalis keep asking my wife how she managed to learn such good Tamil!" .....says Dhritiman amused. ...................... Contibuted by Gautam Moitra 9833271244