Biswajit Chatterjee


Biswajit Chatterjee, known mononymously as Biswajit, is an Indian actor, producer, director, singer and politician known for his work in Hindi and Bengali cinema.

Early career

After films in Calcutta including Mayamrigo and Dui Bhai, Biswajit relocated to Bombay. In 1962, he performed in the film Bees Saal Baad, which was followed by Kohraa, Bin Badal Barsat, Majboor, Kaise Kahoon and Paisa Ya Pyaar.
His filmography includes Mere Sanam, Shehnai, Aasra, Night in London, Yeh Raat Phir Naa Aaygi, April Fool, Kismat, Do Kaliyan, Ishq Par Zor Nahin and Sharaarat. He was usually paired with notable actresses such as Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rehman, Mumtaz, Mala Sinha and Rajshree.
Biswajit appeared in Rekha's debut film Anjana Safar . Though Anjana Safar was blocked by the censors and not released until 10 years later, a scene from the film which shows him kissing Rekha appeared on the pages of the Asian edition of Life magazine. Rekha had complained that during filming of one of the romantic scenes, Biswajit unexpectedly smooched her for 5 minutes against her will, and the entire crew started cheering and whistling while she was in tears.
Between acting in Bollywood movies, Biswajit has returned to Calcutta to act in Bengali films as well. Among them are Chowringhee and Garh Nasimpur with Uttam Kumar and Kuheli and much later, Srimaan Prithviraj, Jai Baba Taraknath and Amar Geeti .
Apart from acting, Biswajeet also sings and performs in concerts. In the 1970s, he cut a disc of two Bengali modern numbers Tomar Chokher Kajole and Jay Jay Din, both composed by Salil Choudhury.

Later career

In 1975, Biswajit produced and directed his own film, Kahte Hai Mujhko Raja. The film besides him starred Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, and Rekha. He had done one film Anjana Safar with Rekha previously. R.D. Burman composed the music. Later, he went back to acting. He will make a film on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose's life and will act in a new untitled Hindi film with his younger daughter actress Prima Chatterjee. He has also acted in a Hindi Stage Play, Ulta Seedha, produced directed written by wife Ira Chatterjee. In the play, he acted with his daughter Prima.

Political career

In the 2014 general elections, Biswajit contested from New Delhi as an All India Trinamool Congress candidate. He finished 7th, securing only 909 votes.
In 2019, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party.

Personal life

Biswajit has a son and a daughter by his first wife, the late Ratna Chatterjee. His son Prosenjit and elder daughter Pallavi Chatterjee are also actors in the Bengali Film Industry. Biswajit lives in Mumbai with his second wife, Ira Chatterjee who is producer, director, writer of stage plays and is owner of Dream Theatre. Their daughter, Prima Chatterjee is a film actress, theatre actress and a dance performer.

Filmography

He is also famous for his love songs picturised on him. The songs were mostly sung by playback singers Mohd Rafi and Hemant Kumar.