Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The mark noted theatre actor and director Alok Chatterjee has left with his acting in plays like Andhayug, Hayavadana, Skandagupta, Insaaf Ka Ghera, Father, Phaedra, Football, Mrityunjay, Nat Samrat, Death of a Salesman will always be an inspiration for upcoming theatre artistes.
Chief Administrative Officer of Bharat Bhavan Prem Shankar Shukla was speaking in a condolence meet at the Bhavan on Wednesday to pay tribute to Alok Chatterjee, a senior theatre of the city and former director of Madhya Pradesh Natya Vidyalaya.
Shukla read out the condolence message. “We are all saddened by the demise of Alok Chatterjee. We see Alok Chatterjee ji as a person who dedicated nearly 50 years of his life of about 64 years to theatre,” he said. He said that he was highly educated in the world of dramas and was a special actor who opened theatre in new contexts. “We will never be able to forget his contribution to Rangmandal.
A large number of artists associated with the theatre in Bhopal including Bharat Bhavan Trust member and senior theatre artist Rajiv Verma, Devilal Patidar, Gopal Dubey, Anoop Joshi, Preeti Jha Tiwari, Bishna Chauhan, Nazir Qureshi, Rita Verma were present.
Chatterjee passed away due to multiple organ failure at the Bansal Hospital in the city on Monday night. He was ailing for long. His last rites were performed at Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat on Tuesday afternoon in the presence of a large number of theatre artists and lovers. Chatterjee, a gold medallist of the 1987 batch of the National School of Drama would have turned 64 on January 11.
Born in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh, Chatterjee was known for his theatre productions like Death of a Salesman, Nat Samrat and Anandmath. In fact , he was known as ‘Nat Samrat’ of the theatre world. He was a gold medalist from the National School of Drama, Delhi for best acting.
He had his early education in Damoh and Jabalpur. After this, he worked as an actor in Bharat Bhavan’s repertory Rangmandal from 1982 to 1984. After graduating from NSD, he again joined the Rangmandal, where he worked from 1988 to 1990. Chatterjee had been director of MP School of Drama for three years.
He has been teaching at NSD and FTII. He also taught acting in the institute of Anupam Kher, Actor Prepress in Mumbai. He was a winner of many awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2019 by the president of India Droupadi Murmu.
Chatterjee was the batchmate of film actor Irrfan Khan and producer Sutapa Sikdar. He is survived by his wife Shobha, son Pratyush and daughter-in-law Rashi.
Writer-lyricist Swanand Kirkire shared the news of Chatterjee’s death on Instagram. “Alok Chatterjee… a unique actor is gone. He was Irfran’s batchmate at NSD. If Irrfan was Kalidas, Chatterjee was Vilom. Vilom has left to meet his Kalidas. Rest in peace, Alok Bhai!” Kikire wrote on Tuesday, which happens to be Irrfan’s 60th birthday.
