New Delhi, Mar 21: Veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, known for his memorable performances in several of Satyajit Ray's movies, is likely to be honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award for lifetime contribution to Indian Cinema.
Sources said the award jury has finalised 77-year-old Chatterjee's name and an announcement in this regard would soon be made.
Recognised as one of the finest actors the country has produced, Chatterjee is known for his long association with legendary Ray, starring in 14 of his films. He made his film debut with 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'. Besides Ray, Chatterjee also worked with renowned Bengali directors like Tapan Sinha (Kshudito Pashan) and Mrinal Sen (Mahaprithibi).
He also acted with Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar in a few films.
Chatterjee, who was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2004, continues to add on to his huge body of work with new films, mostly commercial.
