The amazing story of bringing back Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s original voice even after his death

Soumitra Chattopadhyay passed away last year even before he could complete the dubbing of his much-awaited biopic ‘Abhijaan’ and it left director Parambrata Chattopadhyay in a dilemma. How will he bring back the late actor’s voice when he’s no more? Will someone else have to complete the dubbing? These were the questions that literally tormented Parambrata. But then, something amazing happened. Shomi Chatterjee, the sound designer of ‘Abhijaan’ came up with a brilliant idea and it solved everything.

Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s biopic ‘Abhijaan’ makes it to the London Indian Film Festival

Speaking about the story behind this amazing sound work, director Parambrata Chattopadhyay shares, “I was shocked to see Shomi’s work. People won’t even realize that the voice is not dubbed when they will see the film. Shomi really became a saviour for us. It was his idea to use the original voice of Soumitra Chattopadhyay from the shooting floor, but after some technological advancement and editing. That’s how Shomi delivered the final voice but with a much-improved quality.”

Parambrata also revealed that first they thought of another senior actor to dub for Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s dialogues. “We were planning to request Kharaj Mukhopadhyay for the dubbing but later I thought it won’t work. When I am making someone’s biopic I can’t just use any other person’s voice. It won’t go with the flow,” added the actor-director for whom ‘Abijaan’ is very close to the heart for more than one reason.

The idea behind making a Soumitra Chattopadhyay biopic

Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s demise on November 15, 2020, had stalled the post-production works of ‘Abhijaan’. Nobody knew how Soumitra’s voice will be dubbed. The news of his death had already shattered the entire team. And, adding to that came the dubbing dilemma. With Soumitra’s passing, the emotions of team ‘Abhijaan’ are bittersweet no doubt. Be it Jisshu Sengupta who is playing a young Soumitra in the film or Parambrata Chattopadhyay who is directing biopic, everyone has said it’s an emotional roller coaster ride for them.

In the biopic, Soumitra Chattopadhyay will be seen in his elderly age while Jisshu Sengupta will essay the role of a younger Soumitra. Apart from Jisshu, Paoli Dam will be seen as Suchitra Sen, critically acclaimed filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee will essay Satyajit Ray. Sohini Sarkar will play Madhabi Mukhopadhyay. Rudranil Ghosh will take on the role of legendary Rabi Ghosh. Soumitra Chattapadhyay’s life can be viewed, can be seen from a certain perspective, not just as a film actor that everybody in Bengal knows,” Parambrata had earlier told ETimes while speaking about the biopic.

Jisshu Sengupta starts dubbing for Soumitra Chattopadhyay biopic ‘Abhijaan’