GAACH - Rare Documentary on Soumitra Chatterjee (1998) by Catherine Berge

#Gaach #SoumitraChatterjee #MerchantIvory
‘Gaach’ (‘The Tree’ 1998), Catherine Berge's documentary on Soumitra Chatterjee is one of the first documentaries on the thespian. It is MERCHANT IVORY film.
Catherine followed Chatterjee’s films, mainly his Ray ones with minutest details and that reflects on the screen.
The documentary has a mixed approach - it has Soumitra doing his voice-over himself, breaking from time to time with film excerpts, others commenting on Soumitra and/or parts of filmic experience, a patua (a person who recites a story to a group based on pictures drawn on scrolling papers called pat) played by Soumitra’s friend and actor Rabi Ghosh and most importantly snippets from few of his plays.
Catherine Berge’s efforts are intimate and her venturing out to dig into the creative cudgels of a superlative and talented persona is carried across to the audience. This is a radiantly different take on the thespian and will continue to be probably the best on him even after more than two decades of its making.
Soumitra Chatterjee had been a well-wisher of Silhouette Film Magazine. Uploading 'Gaach' for free and fair public viewing is a tribute and remembrance of the great actor.
We sincerely thank and feel immensely grateful to Mr. James Ivory and Ms Catherine Berge for EXCLUSIVELY authorizing Silhouette to upload this documentary on our official LnC-Silhouette channel.
Read 'Soumitra Became Ray’s Voice' - Interview with Catherine Berge, Director of 'Gaach' learningandcre...
'Murmurs: Moments with Soumitra Chatterjee' by Amitava Nag is a preview collection of interactions that will come out in the form of a book, published by Blue Pencil in January 2021 to celebrate the legend’s 87th birthday.
Visit learningandcre... for extracts from the upcoming book.
Visit: www.silhouette-magazine.com for analytical and insightful studies on films and allied arts.

[@Rupali-m7r3r]

My heart is stolen. What a valuable documentary. Soumitra was heartthrob.

[@debasishchakrabarti4921]

সৌমিত্র চট্টোপাধ্যায় ছিলেন গাছ নয়, মহীরুহ। তিনি ছিলেন বহু পুরষ্কারে ভূষিত আন্তর্জাতিক স্বীকৃত অভিনেতা। অভিনয় ছাড়াও পাঠ, আবৃত্তি, কবিতা, নাট্ক রচনা ইত্যাদি বহুমুখী গুণেরঅধিকারী। প্রতিভায় তিনি ছিলেন the last child of Bengal renaissance.

[@gargisaha7528]

সুন্দর উপস্থাপনা।A complete wort on Soumitra Chatterjee's life. Being an actor of regional language he reached himself at the door of the world cinema, that happens rare. It's our great fortune and matter of pride that a filmmaker from farthest Germany showed her interest to make a film on Soumitra Chatterjee's life, which is very rare in the context of world cinema. After his mentor Satyajit Ray , only Soumitra Chatterjee's work was closely visited and drawn full attention from his very first film apur sansar internationally. So he was recognised as a great actor of India as well as international film fraternity. He is a genius.

[@asanyal296]

Your observations are right. However, a minor quibble-Catherine Berge is from France not Germany.

[@megha4163]

ভীষণই সুন্দর একটি উপস্থাপনা...এই অনন্তের সন্ধানীর ভাষ্য এক অন্য গভীরতায় তাঁকে আবিষ্কার করতে শেখায় অনন্তলোকে তাঁর সদ্য যাত্রা-উত্তর সময়ে❤️❤️🌻

[@bluemonk9039]

This is a priceless rendition on the great actor/thespian.

[@AyushPramanik]

Thank you so much, for uploading this!

[@phoebusapollo4677]

Excellent.

[@tapansom5232]

Hi Catherine: After about 25 years, I saw GAACH, directed by you, for the first time. The movies was shown in Philladelphia Banga (Bengali) Sammelan in 1997. Mr. Ismail Merchant graciously sent me a copy through his nephew from France. I was too busy on that day in running the show to watch the movie. I'm glad Jennifer M Kowalski, Program Coordinator, NYS Writer Institute, University of Albany had sent me the link. Did France Bhattacharya do the French subtitle? Hope to meet you one day. Thank you for doing this movie. Tapan Som, Philadelphia, PA

[@saniddhaghoshdastidar1107]

The man who was holding the scroll and singing was our Great Bengali Actor Rabi Ghosh. ❤

[@grosporcvolant]

Paix à son âme