When Soumitra Chatterjee had to send an apology letter to Tapan Sinha

In a career spanning more than six decades, living legend Soumitra Chatterjee has had the opportunity to work with almost all the leading directors in the Bengali industry. The veteran actor has always insisted that Satyajit Ray and Tapan Sinha were the two directors who have always given him challenging roles and eventually brought out the best in him.
While reminiscing about his long association with Tapan Sinha, Soumitra Chatterjee shared an interesting story from his early career.“During the shoot of ‘Wheelchair’ in 1994, a scene had to be shot a number of times as I wasn’t delivering the lines properly. The next day, when I came to the set I gave a handwritten apology letter to director Tapan Sinha and admitted my mistake. I couldn’t concentrate on the scene. Tapan Sinha was really moved by my gesture and later used to tell people in the industry that in his entire filmmaking career, no actor ever shown such a humble gesture. He even told me there’s no such need to reshoot the particular scene. He took a satisfactory shot from whatever was shot the earlier day,” said the legendary actor.
Soumitra also admitted that being a professional actor, it’s his responsibility to deliver the perfect shot until the director likes it. “I urged Tapan Sinha to let me try one more time and the shot was finally approved after 2-3 takes,” Soumitra added.