#BigInterview Goutam Ghose: I still remember how Soumitrada helped a terminally ill Samit Bhanja during ‘Abar Aranye’ shooting

Goutam Ghose was very young when he first watched ‘Apur Sansar’ and fell in love with Apu (Soumitra Chattopadhyay). He still remembers the experience of watching the Ray classic.
“A few days later, Soumitra Chattopadhyay visited my para at a cultural event during Puja and recited Tagore’s Suprobhat. It still plays in my mind. I was overwhelmed to see the reel Apu in real life. Years later, when I finally met him, I told him about the incident.My respect towards him grew, even more, when I saw him bringing out Ekkhon, one of the most important literary magazines, with Nirmalya Acharya. They used to hang out at College Street Coffee House and I used to be very impressed by his multifaceted interests,” recalls the National Award-winning director during an exclusive chat with ETimes.

Goutam shares it took him a while to cast Soumitra in his films and how the first film happened. “At Rabi Ghosh’s condolence meeting, he said, “O Babu, cholo ekta kichu kori.” And at that moment I thought of penning a script and Dekha happened. Sunilda (Gangopadhyay) and I, together wrote the script keeping Soumitrada in mind. And I witnessed the amount of diligence he put in to play the character of Sashi Bhusan Sanyal. He received the Special Jury Award at the 48^th National Film Awards ceremony. That was, I think, his first recognition at the National Awards,” shares the noted director.
As the conversation went on Goutam Ghose also mentioned Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s humane side: “While we were shooting Abar Aranye, Samit Bhanja was terminally ill. I saw how Soumitrada used to comfort him. He used to hold Samitda’s hand and help him walk. I have worked with many actors but working with him was one of the smoothest things to happen.”

The renowned director also spoke about Soumitra’s playful sense of humour: “On July 24, this year, Soumitrada and I attended a webinar along with Sandip Ray and others. It was just a day after my birthday. He joined the call and immediately said, “Ki Babu, shottor mere dile? (Wow, you scored 70 already?).”
The legendary figure passed away on November 15 last year and Goutam Ghose admits there will be no one like his Soumitrada: “He was a legend, an icon. But not just that, he had remained a legend for years that no one can even imagine sustaining. With him, an era has ended.”