Soumitra Chatterjee Trust

Currently I am in Delhi. My Kolkata office called today and informed me that all the modalities of Soumitra Chatterjee Trust have been completed and the funds transferred. The Trust was formed in October-end last year but the formalities took some time to be completed.

Soumitra Chatterjee Trust is a joint initiative of five persons – Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, Bengal’s top actor Prasenjit, journalist Gautam Bhattacharya, businessman and cultural aficionado Protimoy Chakraborty and myself.

We all felt that though Sri Soumitra Chatterjee, the living legend of Bengali cinema, received due recognition by the Government of India when he was awarded Padma Shri, his very own city, Kolkata, owed him one for a long time.

In fact, the idea of felicitating him in a different way was mooted by four others, who later shared their thoughts with me and included me in the venture. What followed was a series of meetings in my residence and at The Conclave that finally culminated at a function `Coffee with Soumitra’ on the eve of October 24th 2009 at The Oberoi Grand.

Sri Chatterjee was felicitated in the presence of top dignitaries, celebrities, corporate heads and icons of Kolkata from the field of art, literature, culture, dance, drama, music, films, social work, politics, sports and business who turned up in full strength to honour and felicitate Sri Soumitra Chatterjee and create a memorable evening. Kolkata has rarely witnessed such a robust gathering in recent memory. The Soumitra Chatterjee Trust was also formally announced at this function and the relevant papers of the Trust handed over to him by five of us.

I must mention that the initial money collected by us for the Trust was more than our target. Congratulations to the foursome who floated this wonderful idea. Also, my personal thanks to them for including me to become a part of a historic event and relying on Prabha Khaitan Foundation for providing support.

ess bee