Victor Banerjee burst onto the silver screen in 1977 as the hookah-smoking Mother-ud-Daulah, the ‘prime minister’ of Awadh, in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’, and he says it was the biggest hit of his career. There was a break. Working with marquee directors such as David Lean, James Ivory, Roman Polanski and Ronald Neam has seen him act in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films and with Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Ram Gopal Varma.
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Winner of the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for ‘Ghare Baire’ directed by Satyajit Ray, he is the only Indian film personality to have won a National Film Award in three categories – the other two as a cinematographer, for his documentary ‘Where No One’. Journey End’, and as director, for his documentary ‘The Splendor of Garhwal and Roopkund’.
In fact, ‘Where No Journey End’ won the Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival against 3,100 entries from 27 countries.
It has been a generous journey for Banerjee, who was born into a zamindari Bengali Hindu family and is a descendant of Raja Bahadur of Chanchal (now in Malda district of West Bengal) and Raja of Uttarpara (in Hooghly district).
He turned down a scholarship to Trinity College in Dublin, which had offered to accept him as an operatic stint, but he later became the lead stint in the Calcutta Light Opera group’s productions of ‘The Desert Song’, and Bombay He also played the role of Jesus in the theatre. Music production for the first time, ‘Godspell’.
Schooled at St. Edmund’s School in Shillong, Banerjee earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata and a master’s degree in comparative literature from Jadavpur University.
In 1984, Banerjee played the role of Dr. Aziz Ahmed in David Lean’s ‘A Passage to India’, which brought him to the attention of Western audiences. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for the role in 1986, and won the Evening Standard British Film Award and the NBR (US National Board of Review) Award for the same film.
In April 1985, at a special event in Louisiana, where John Travolta and American TV actress Loretta Swit were also honored, Banerjee received the ‘Show-a-Rama Award’ from the Motion Picture Association of America as the ‘New International Star’. met.
There have also been other memorable roles, for example in Merchant-Ivory’s ‘Hallabalu Over Georgie & Boney Pictures’ and Mrinal Sen’s ‘Mahaprithvi’.
And, as is known for speaking his mind, Banerjee said on the sets of Priyanka Chopra starrer ‘Gunday’ (2014), “I have a kitchen to run” and “all work is a challenge and so is fun”.
Banerjee has also acted in several Bollywood films, notably ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ (2007), ‘Apne’ (2007) and ‘Sarkar Raj’ (2008). Other notable productions include ‘Protidon’ (1983), ‘Byyabandhan’ (1990), ‘It Was Raining That Night’ (2005), ‘Delhi in a Day’ (2011), ‘Dev Bhoomi’ (2016), ‘Biporjoy’ Are included. (2017) and ‘The Answer’ (2018).
He has also entered politics. Banerjee unsuccessfully contested the 1991 Lok Sabha elections in Calcutta North West on a BJP ticket. He got 89,155 votes and finished third.
As an active member of the BJP, he was critical of then Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s suggestion that the kar sevaks who had stormed the Babri Masjid before it was demolished should have been shot.
He has also strongly criticized Punjab Congress politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s pacifist attitude towards terrorism being exported from Pakistan.
Born on 15 October 1946, Banerjee is only 75 years old, young by today’s standards, and there is a strong hope that the Padma Bhushan will take her to greater heights.
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