Kolkata International Film Festival to pay tribute to Soumitra Chattopadhyay

Raj Chakrabarty

regrets that he can never fulfil his dream of working with Soumitra Chattopadhyay now. After the veteran actor’s demise on November 15, Raj had tweeted: "A great loss for Bangla Cinema; the demise of the legend, Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay. Rest in peace, you'll live forever in the hearts and household of Bengal."

Speaking to ETimes about the great loss Indian cinema has suffered, he said, “I wanted to cast Soumitra da in

Proloy

but he was too busy at that time. Then Paranda (Bandopadhyay) did that role. It was my dream to work with a stalwart like him. But now, it will remain an unfulfilled dream. Needless to say, he was a great actor and his charisma was enviable. Whenever we have interacted, Soumitrada had always praised me for my hard work and my films, which I feel is a great honour.”

When asked what plans they have at the 26th

Kolkata International Film Festival

to pay tribute to Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Raj said, “We had planned that he would inaugurate the program celebrating Satyajit Ray’s centenary. But now, we have to plan it in another way. I am sure CM (Mamata Banerjee) would have plans too, which she would share with us and we will work accordingly,” said Raj.

The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) has been postponed to January 8, 2021. The festival was previously scheduled for November, 2020.