Soumitra's B'wood debut
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 28, 2014)

It seems Sujoy Ghosh has managed to do what Raj Kapoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee couldn't. He has got the grand old man of Bengali film industry to finally sign a Hindi film.

Soumitra Chatterjee was to Satyajit Ray what Toshiro Mifune was to Akira Kurosawa and Marcello Mastroianni was to Federico Fellini. The Oscar winning director collaborated with Chatterjee in 14 out of his 34 films. And today, even at 79, the actor can make hearts race with his distinguished good looks and his recitation of Tagore's verses when not flexing his acting chops.

In a career spanning almost half a century, the Padma Bhushan awardee has received many offers from top filmmakers in Bollywood, several from Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but he could not be persuaded to leave Bengal for Bombay. He is believed to have even turned down Raj Kapoor who had apparently approached him for Sangam. However, the Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee has finally accepted his first Hindi film, Sujoy Ghosh's upcoming, Durga Rani Singh.

A source said: "Soumitra's character is central to the plot. For Sujoy it's a huge casting coup."