I'd Stare at Soumitrada, Wonder How He Acted So Naturally: Simi Garewal

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I’d stare at Soumitrada, wonder how he acted so naturally: Simi Garewal By - TNNShamayita.ChakrabortyDec 9, 2020, 16:28 IST Half a century ago, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shamit Bhanja, Rabi Ghosh and Subhendu Chatterjee set out on a road trip to the forests of Palamau in Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri. In the film that also features Sharmila Tagore, Simi Garewal and others, the master filmmaker unveiled the urban haughtiness and garnished it with a pinch of feminism. As Aranyer Din Ratri completes 50 years, Simi, who played the role of Duli, revisits the memories of working with both Ray and Soumitra. Reminiscing about her mesmerising experience of shooting with Soumitra, who passed away last month, Simi said, “He was one of the most talented actors. I have never seen such talent. It was a lesson just to watch him act. Instead of doing my own work, I used to watch him work and marvel at his acting. When you are shooting, you are talking and moving around, listening to the director. And just when the director said action, I would just keep staring at Soumitrada, wondering how could he act so naturally! I would count him among the best actors India has ever had. He was phenomenal. He was not acting, he was just being on the set.” In her blog, Simi called the experience “an incredible good fortune of working with one of the world’s finest directors, Satyajit Ray.” Ray and Simi had first met at Raj Kapoor’s house. “Ray had seen a preview of Mera Naam Joker, and at the dinner that followed, I noticed him staring at me throughout the evening. Everybody else noticed it too. Within a month, I got a letter from him offering me ‘an important role’ in his new film,” Simi recalled. The film was shot in Chhipadohar, now in Jharkhand. “For a week, Manikda wouldn’t let me shoot. He’d take me to the baati khana (local liquor shop), where the Adivasis gathered at night to drink, and let me just observe,” the actress recalled, adding, “I saw women exactly like my character, Duli, and that made it all so easy.” While Simi was not in touch with Soumitra after the film, she was very much in touch with Ray for many years. “We used to share letters all the time. I still have them. I was not in touch with any of the other actors. I met Rabida when we went to Mauritius. The film was released there and Rabida and I were the only representatives of Manikda. We spent a lot of time together there. I wrote to Manikda afterwards saying that we really missed him. ‘Even though you weren't there in presence, you were very much there in our hearts and in the people’s hearts,’ I wrote to him,” Simi shared. Reference: https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/id-stare- at-soumitrada-wonder-how-he-acted-so-naturally-simi- garewal/articleshow/79643334.cms .

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