At Soumitra da’s art exhibition

September 13, 2013: I was busy last week for a number of events that were lined up one after another. Yesterday was the inauguration of “Forms Within” the exhibition of Soumitra Chatterjee’s art work which he had been doing quietly during his free time for the past three decades.

The Bengal, along with ICCR, supported by The State Bank of India, organized the exhibition at the Abanindranath gallery of ICCR. The inaugural function was followed by a dinner hosted by The Bengal at The Conclave.

Chief Guest Mrinal Sen could not attend the inaugural function and instead sent a touching letter which was read out by Arindam Sil. The Bengal Chairman, H M Bangur, President, Nabanita Deb Sen, Working President, Jogen Chowdhury were present at the inaugural function with artist Rabin Mandal, Chief General Manager of SBI, Sunil Srivastava, Rajashree Behera, Director, ICCR, and of course Soumitra Chatterjee himself.

It was a simple inaugural function attended by many eminent guests including Wasim Kapoor, Suvaprasanna, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Harsh Neotia and others. In all, 108 art works of Soumitra Chatterjee were put on display at the exhibition which was aptly named Forms Within since the artist said that it was indeed a reflections of his inner world going back to the days of his childhood.

The art work and paintings of Soumitra was a real surprise since most of the people came to know this aspect of his versatility for the first time. I came to know from my friends in the film industry that over the years they had seen him often scribbling on papers during shoots and in between work. His artwork, I felt, has a strong influence of Rabindranath Tagore. Many of the artists praised Soumitra’s works from the heart.

Later in the evening we, on behalf of The Bengal, hosted a dinner party for the guests at The Conclave which was again very well attended. The party went on till 11:30 pm with Soumitra as the centre of attraction. By the time I came back home it was past mid-night.

I hope to find some time and visit the exhibition sometime in the next few days and pick up a painting or two. ess bee