Soumitra Chatterjee: Aparna Sen and Samik Bandyopadhyay remember

Soumitra Chatterjee, although best known for his films, was also a poet theatre practitioner and a lifelong Marxist. His commitment to politics, and to an idea of India that that politics envisioned, are to be celebrated emphatically in times when art’s conjunction with politics, protest or dissent is increasingly incarcerated.

This three part conversation between film director and actor Aparna Sen and theatre and film scholar Samik Bandyopadhyay, moderated by Githa Hariharan, writer and co-founder fo the Indian Cultural Forum, brings into light the many aspects of Soumitra Chatterjee’s life: his milieu, politics and his legacy. In Part I Aparna Sen speaks about her journey with Soumitra Chatterjee- as a fan, co-actor, then director; his grasp over language and ability to manipulate it; and Samik Bandyopadhyay discusses his theatre practice. Part II is about the political and historical events that Soumitra Chatterjee came out of, how they influenced his career and political impulses. Part III concludes with the legacy of Soumitra Chatterjee— what value systems he espoused that we must look up to and carry forward.

“No mob can tell us what to write and what not to write”

“No mob can tell us what to write and…

“It has become a status symbol to be banned”, says Nayantara Sahgal with a smile on her face. Bold and unapologetic, the eminent author talks to Ishita Mehta of the Indian Cultural Forum about her latest novella The Fate of Butterflies, the recent withdrawal of her invitation from the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, the attacks on writers and artists and their roles in the “unmaking of India”, the global political scenario, and more.


Read more:
Nayantara Sahgal: “It’s quite possible that the organisers were under political pressure”
Nayantara Sahgal in Conversation with Githa Hariharan on the Making & Unmaking of India
“Brand Lalla’s words on your heart”