Veteran Bengali actor Pradip Mukherjee passed away at 8:15 am in Kolkata hospital on Monday. A few days ago, he was admitted to a private hospital due to a lung infection and later shifted to a state-run hospital when his condition worsened, reported Hindustan Times.
The late actor was survived by his wife, son and a daughter. He made his mark in the industry as he appeared in over 40 films, including his most popular film which was directed by Satyajit Ray, titled Jana Aranya.
Making his debut with Jana Aranya, he appeared as a lead character, Somnath. Some of his other works were Hirer Angti (1992) by Rituparno Ghosh and Mondo Meyer Upakshan (2002) by Buddhadeb Dasgupta. His last release was Torulatar Bhoot in 2021.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, expressed his condolences on Pradip Mukherjee’s death and said in a statement, “I am saddened on getting the news of the death of Pradip Mukherjee. He had left his mark in Satyajit Ray's Jana Aranya, Rituparno Ghosh's Utsav and Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Dooratwa. His death left a deep void.”
Satyajit Ray’s son, filmmaker Sandip Rau told PTI, “Pradip Mukherjee had been noticed by my father in a Bengali stage production and he decided to cast him in Jana Aranya. He delivered an excellent performance. He was a true well-wisher of the Ray family. We lost a family member.”
Besides Jana Aranya, the veteran actor was also a part of Ray’s Shakha Prasakha (1990) and Sandip Ray’s Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy (2012), Badsahi Angti (2014) and Gorosthane Sabdhan (2010). Besides Bengali films, he also acted in filmmaker Sunjoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2 (2016) where he played the role of doctor Maity.
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