Victor Banerjee

Victor Banerjee
ভিক্টর ব্যনার্জী

Victor Banerjee in 2013
Born Partho Sarathi Banerjee
পার্থসারথি ব্যানার্জী
15 October 1946 (aged 69)
Calcutta, India
Occupation Actor
Years active 1970, 1977–present
Children 2

Victor Banerjee (born Partho Sarathi Banerjee, 15 October 1946) is an Indian actor who appears in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films. He has worked for directors including Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Montazur Rahman Akbar and Ram Gopal Varma.

Early life

Banerjee was born to a Zamindari Bangali Hindu family and is a descendant of The Raja Bahadur of Chanchal and the Raja of Uttarpara.

He received his schooling at St. Edmund's School, Shillong, and graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and did Post Graduate studies in Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University.

He turned down a scholarship to the Trinity College in Dublin who had offered, through the Irish Christian Brothers, to admit him as an Operatic Tenor. He was the lead tenor in the "Calcutta Light Opera Group" production of the "Desert Song" and even played "Jesus" in Bombay Theatre's first ever musical production, "Godspell".

Career

In 1984, he acted as Dr. Aziz Ahmed in David Lean's film of A Passage to India, bringing him to the attention of Western audiences. Victor was nominated for BAFTA award for this role in 1986. He won two other awards for this role: Evening Standard British Film Award and NBR Award (National Board Review, USA). In April 1985, at a special event in Louisiana, where John Travolta and Loretta Swit were also honoured, Banerjee was given the "SHOWARAMA AWARD" by the Motion Pictures Association of America as "New International Star".

He acted in Merchant Ivory Productions Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures, Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khilari and Ghare Baire and in Mrinal Sen's Mahaprithivi.

Though in recent years he has been involved with Bollywood, he is affiliated with the Bengali film industry. He also plays 'character actor' roles from time to time in the British cinema.

He was also cast in the critically acclaimed role of "Jesus" in the 1988 production of the York Mystery Plays, by director Steven Pimlott.

He is the only person in India who has won the "National Award" in three separate categories. As a Cinematographer for his documentary called "Where No Journeys End" which, in competition with 3100 entries from 27 countries, also won the "Gold Award" at the Houston International Film Festival. He won an award for Direction with the best documentary on Tourism called "The Splendour of Garhwal and Roopkund" and he won the "Best Supporting Actor" award for his work in Satyajit Ray's "Ghare Bairey".He is the younger uncle of Joydeep Banerjee who is working as Sub-Editor with NDTV news at Mumbai.

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooah (17 April 2014). "A struggle still". The Hindu (Delhi). Retrieved 22 August 2014.

External links


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