'People won't watch an old Feluda'
He had also been a part of Aparajito (The Unvanquished), Charulata (The Lonely Wife) and Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in a Forest), Ashani Sanket, Sonar Kella (The Golden Fort) and Jai Baba Felunath (Hail, Baba Felunath), which were some of his cinematic milestones.
Some of his recent releases, which have been widely acclaimed include, The Bong Connection, Mahaprithivi, Shakha Prosakha and Paromitar Ek Din. He appeared in 15 movies made by Satyajit Ray.
"I'd been associated with Ray for nearly 30 years. I was almost like a family member. There is no particular moment I can remember as memorable; every moment was fun. It was like acting in one long film, a continuous process," the actor recalled.
But he would not like to play detective Feluda, the hero of the Ray mystery series, again. "People would not like to see an aged Felu on screen."
Chatterjee is now back to the stage, the medium he started from. "I am rehearsing for my new play - the Bengali adaptation of the Marathi play Atmakatha (Autobiography) by Mahesh Elkunchwar," he says.
These days, the actor spends most of his time writing his own plays, directing and setting the musical score for them. He has his own theatre troupe, Mukhomukhi.
His return to the stage is not exactly voluntary. "Now that films are not so exciting, I am back to the stage. Tollygunge (the hub of the Bengali movie industry) does not have good directors. I can't do much about the rest of India because I hardly get an opportunity to see movies from outside Bengal. But, personally, I think that the quality of cinema made in Tollygunge has declined," he said.
He attributes the slump in Bengali films not only to poor quality but also to shrinking marketing avenues and lack of initiatives on the part of the producers.
"Bengal is lagging behind other moviemaking states because it cannot market its movies. Opportunities have shrunk. If Bengali cinema had reached the maximum number of Bengalis, then it would have gone global," Chatterjee said.
