Pradip Mukherjee, who starred in Satyajit Ray’s Jana Aranya, dies at 76

On Monday, veteran Bengali actor Pradip Mukherjee died at 8:15 am in Kolkata hospital. He was 76.

Three days ago, he was admitted to a private hospital due to a lung infection and later shifted to a state-run hospital when his condition worsened.

Pradip Mukherjee is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. He appeared in over 40 films, including his most popular– Satyajit Ray’s Jana Aranya, which marked his debut.

In the film, he appeared as the lead character, Somnath. Some of his other works were Hirer Angti (1992) by Rituparno Ghosh and Mondo Meyer Upakshan (2002) by Buddhadeb Dasgupta. His last release was Torulatar Bhoot in 2021.

On Pradip Mukherjee’s death, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in a statement, “I am saddened on getting the news of the death of Pradip Mukherjee. He had left his mark in Satyajit Ray’s Jana Aranya, Rituparno Ghosh’s Utsav and Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Dooratwa. His death left a deep void.”

Satyajit Ray’s son, filmmaker Sandip Rau told PTI, “Pradip Mukherjee had been noticed by my father in a Bengali stage production and he decided to cast him in Jana Aranya. He delivered an excellent performance.

He was a true well-wisher of the Ray family. We lost a family member.” Besides Jana Aranya, the veteran actor was also a part of Ray’s Shakha Prasakha (1990) and Sandip Ray’s Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy (2012), Badsahi Angti (2014) and Gorosthane Sabdhan (2010). Besides Bengali films, he also acted in filmmaker Sunjoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2 (2016) where he played the role of doctor Maity.