Pratham Kadam Phool (Bengali Movie DvD / Indian Regional Cinema / 60's Movie / Tanuja) [DVD]

About the Actor Soumitra Chatterjee , born on 19th January 1935, is known
among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film
director Satyajit Ray. Soumitra studied at the Scottish Church College of the
University of Calcutta, graduating with honours in Bengali Literature. He has
lived for a number of years in Calcutta in Satyajit Ray's old apartment. He
passed M.A. examination in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. Soumitra's
film debut came in 1959 in Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar. His centrality to Ray's
work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema. He also
worked with Sharmila Tagore in a number of Ray films. Besides working with
Ray, Soumitra excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali
directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. He played the role of Shekhar in
the 1969 Ajoy Kar version of Parineeta. Soumitra has also been active in
Bengali theatre as an actor, playwright and director. He is a well-known
poetry reciter, and has acted on TV and in indigenous folk drama. Soumitra has
received the 'Officier des Arts et Metiers', the highest award for arts given
by the French government, and a lifetime achievement award from Italy. He
turned down the honorary Padma Shri award from the Indian government in the
seventies; more recently, in 2004, he accepted the prestigious Padma Bhushan
award from the President of India. He has been the subject of a full-length
documentary named Gaach by French director Catherine Berge.