IFFI 51, 16-24 January, 16: Bengali and Hindi veteran Actor-Director-Singer Biswajit conferred Indian Personality of the Year Award
The 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India, Goa has conferred Biswajit Chatterjee, veteran actor, producer, director and singer of Hindi and Bengali cinema, with the Indian Personality of the Year Award. The Award was announced at the opening ceremony of the festival, by Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar.
Making the announcement, the Union Minister said that this award will be presented to him, when National Film Awards are presented, in March this year.
Biswajit Chattopadhaya (Chatterjee), now 84, is known for his roles of Kumar Vijay Singh in Bees Saal Baad (1962), his first Hindi film, a suspense thriller. He also played Raja Amit Kumar Singh in Kohra, which was also a suspense film, of the psychological genre. Introduced to Hindi cinema by singer-producer Hemant Kumar, Biswajit worked in several of his films. Both Bees Saal Baad and Kohra were Hemant Kumar’s productions. Besides, he acted in several commercially successful Hindi films, like April Fool, Mere Sanam, Night In London, Do Kaliyaan and Kismat. His last Hindi film was Aa Dekhen Zara, in which he had a guest role.
He was usually paired with notable actresses, such as Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rehman, Mumtaz, Mala Sinha and Rajshree. Some of his Bengali films include Chowringhee (1968) and Garh Nasimpur with Uttam Kumar and Kuheli, and much later, Srimaan Prithviraj (1973), Jai Baba Taraknath (1977) and Amar Geeti (1983). In 1975, Biswajit produced and directed his own film, Kahte Hai Mujhko Raja, while also playing the lead role. Apart from acting and direction, he has also been a singer and a producer.
The Personality of the Year is a great fan of late singer Mohammed Rafi, who gave the playback voice for most of his super-hit songs.
Biswajit has a son and a daughter by his first wife, the late Ratna Chatterjee. His son, Prosenjit and elder daughter, Pallavi Chatterjee, are also actors in the Bengali Film Industry. Biswajit lives in Mumbai, with his second wife, Ira Chatterjee who is a producer, director, writer of stage plays and is owner of Dream Theatre. Their younger daughter, Prima Chatterjee is a film actress, theatre actress and a dance performer.