It started out as just another Monday for as he was shooting for Shriman vs Shrimati in Kolkata, when he received a call stating that Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, wanted to speak with him. “[Next thing I know], the I&B Minister congratulated me saying I have received the Dadasaheb Phalke award,” the senior actor exclaims. ADVERTISEMENT Yesterday, Chakraborty was named the recipient of the prestigious award.
It is a worthy addition to his illustrious 48-year career that has seen the veteran actor, 74, win three National Awards, and the Padma Bhushan earlier this year. To him, the latest achievement has yet to sink in. “I am sitting here dumbfounded.
I cannot laugh or cry with joy; I cannot understand what I’ve done to deserve such a high honour. I was reflecting on my journey, which began in the lanes of Kolkata, then took me to Mumbai, where I lived at Five Gardens, and now here. How can somebody like me get the highest Indian award in films?” That Chakraborty was destined to make his mark in movies was evident in his debut film, Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa (1976), which earned him his first National Award.
“Mrinal Sen had seen me at a farewell party at the FTII [Film and Television Institute of India]. He saw my back and said, ‘That’s my Ghinua.’ He told Hrishikesh Mukherjee that he wanted this tall boy with a terrific physique for his movie.
I had six-pack abs at the time,” he laughs. What followed was a successful c.