Sabyasachi Chakrabarty

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty (Bengali pronunciation:[/ʃob.ja.sɑ.t͡ʃi/]) is an Indian actor known for his work in theatre, films and television. He is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters, Feluda, and Kakababu.

Early life and education

His parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty and Monica Chakrabarty, used to call him "Benu". His sister Papiya Sen is an actress.

In 1975, he passed Higher Secondary Examination from Andrew's High School, Kolkata. He earned a degree in B.Sc. from Hansraj College, University of Delhi.[citation needed] He cleared his AMI examination from Delhi in 1978. Apart from acting, he is a nature enthusiast and wild life photographer.

Career

Sabyasachi's first mainstream work was a lead role in the 1987 TV series Tero Parbon for Kolkata Doordarshan channel. Tero Parbon was critically acclaimed with a memorable soundtrack in which his role as the character Gora was well-received and made him fairly popular in his early days of acting.

He made his movie debut in Tapan Sinha’s Antardhan in 1992. He continued to work in several television series and shows (mostly in Bengali). He has directed many TV shows and some shows for children. He played Kakababu in the Kakababu original film series. He acted in Kakababu Here Gelen? (1995) and Ek Tukro Chand (2001) and the mini TV series Khali Jahajer Rahasya (1999) as Kakababu. His has played Feluda in multiple films, television series and telefilms. His roles in Antardhan, Sweth Pathorer Thala, Mahulbanir Sereng, Parineeta (Hindi), Nishijapon and Mira Nair's The Namesake amongst others have earned him wide recognition. He got involved with Charbak theatre group in 1983. He has worked in a number of Hindi movies and TV shows as well.

Feluda portrayal

Sabyasachi has portrayed Feluda on both small and big screens. Soumitra Chatterjee originally played Feluda in Satyajit Ray's Feluda series in the 1970s. He acted in Sonar Kella (1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (1979) as Feluda. Both Soumitra and Sabyasachi played the Feluda character with great success. As Sabyasachi said in many interviews, Feluda is one of his idols and favourite heroes from his young age. In the late 80's Sabyasachi met the author of Feluda series Satyajit Ray and expressed an interest in starring as Feluda. But Satyajit Ray said that he will not make another Feluda movie as Santosh Dutta the actor who played the role of Jatayu died in 1988, but he told Sabyasachi to go to his son Sandip Ray who was a rising film director in that time. Then Sabyasachi met Sandip Ray, but Sandip Ray had no plan of making any Feluda film at that time. Then Sabyasachi started working in the movies besides theatre and television.

In the year 1994 Sandip Ray called Sabyasachi Chakrabarti at Ray's home. By that time Sabyasachi had become a well known actor in big screens beside theatre. Ray offered him the iconic hero of Bengali literature, Feluda. It was a dream character for Sabyasachi Chakrabarti. All films of the Feluda new film series (Continuation of the original series) were directed by Sandip Ray. In this series he made ten TV films and five full-length films in Bengali on the character. His first Feluda film was Baksho Rahashya (1996). It was released as a TV film and it was a part of Feluda 30 TV film series which includes five TV films based on five Feluda novels and stories. The series continued from the year 1996 to 1997. In 1999 series Satyajiter Gappo includes four Feluda TV films. In the year 2000 he acted in Dr. Munshir Diary as Feluda. It was the last Feluda TV film since 2000.

In 2002 Sandip Ray was developing a third big screen adaptation of Feluda film series. Bombaiyer Bombete(2003) was the first big screen adaptation of the Feluda new film series (Continuation of the original series) and the third big screen adaptation of the Bengali sleuth Feluda after 25 years of the second Feluda movie Joi Baba Felunath (1979) which was directed by the author of the Feluda series Satyajit Ray. After the huge success of Bombaiyer Bombete (2003) four sequels have been made till 2011. They are Kailashey Kelenkari (2007), Tintorettor Jishu (2008), Gorosthaney Sabdhan (2010) and Royal Bengal Rohosso (2011). The first Feluda film shot abroad was Tintorettor Jishu (2008) directed by Sandip Ray and Sabyasachi as Feluda. A fifth sequel was announced by Sandip Ray where Sabyasachi Chakrabarty returned as the Bengali sleuth Feluda after a few years.

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty played that role in the telefilms made later directed by Sandip Ray. Santosh Dutta died in 1988, so Jatayu was played by Rabi Ghosh in the first two TV films of Sandip Ray, after his death Anup Kumar played Jatayu and finally by Bibhu Bhattacharya. In Sandip Ray's ten Feluda TV films Topshe was played by Saswata Chatterjee. Later in Bombaiyer Bombete (2003), Kailashey Kelenkari (2007) and Tintorettor Jishu (2008) Parambrata Chatterjee played Topshe. After him in Gorosthaney Sabdhan (2010) and Royal Bengal Rohosso (2011) Saheb Bhattacharya played as Topshe. Double Feluda was released in December 2016, where Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Saheb Bhattacharya returned as Feluda and Topshe respectively. The movie was a tribute to 50 years of Feluda.[citation needed]

Filmography

Television

Web series

Accolades

Personal life

Sabyasachi got married in 1986 to Mithu Chakrabarty, who is also a popular face in the Bengali entertainment industry. He has two sons, Gaurav and Arjun, both of whom are talented actors working in both film and television.

See also

• Feluda in film
• Kakababu in other media

External links

• atIMDb