Veteran actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Supriya Devi and Sabitri Chatterjee were conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by West Bengal government on Tuesday for their contribution to Bengali cinema.
Bollywood and Tollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty was awarded 'Mahanayak Uttam Kumar Samman 2012', at a function held in Kolkata.
The awards, which comprise Rs two lakh besides a citation and plaque, were given on the death anniversary of Uttam Kumar, Bengal's evergreen matinee idol.
Announcing the awards to 46 actors, film directors, musicians, scriptwriters and technicians, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she wanted to bridge the gap between those who supported her and those who have strong Marxist leanings.
Soumitra has always been considered close to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which ruled West Bengal for 34 years at a stretch at the head of a Left Front government before Mamata Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress ousted the Front in assembly elections in May last year.
Praising her for the initiative, Soumitra Chatterjee said such awards were earlier given by the state government only for dancing and music but none for those in the film world.
“I hope that this initiative will give an opportunity not only to contemporary artistes in the film world but also inspire the younger generation,” said Soumitra.
Mamata Banerjee described Soumitra, who features in a number of films directed by maestro Satyajit Ray, as the “pride of Bengal” and congratulated him for accepting the award.
Soumitra had stayed away from the inaugural ceremony in the last edition of the Kolkata Film Festival complaining that he was not properly invited by the state government. However, the authorities later on made up with him and he had attended the closing function.
