Soumitra Chatterjee to receive Phalke award, India's top cine award

New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) Veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, known for his memorable performances in several of Satyajit Ray's movies, will be honoured with the country's prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2011 for his lifetime contribution to India's cinema, it was officially announced today. The 77-year-old actor's name was proposed by a five member Jury. The award, the highest honour in Indian Cinema, will be presented to the veteran actor during the 59th National Film Awards function. Chatterjee made his debut in 1959 with Satyajit Ray's "Apur Sansar" and went on to star in 14 of Ray's films. In his career spanning more then five decades, Chatterjee has acted in more than 400 films including the films of Tapan Sinha, Mrinal Sen and Tarun Majumdar. Some of his notable films include "Khudito Pashan", "Teen Kanya" "Charulata", "Kapurush", "Akash Kusum", "Aranyer Din Ratri", "Ashani Sanket", "Sonar Kella", "Joi Baba Felunath", "Hirak Rajar Deshe", "Ghare Baire", and "Ganashatru". Chatterjee has won India's National Film Award for Best Actor for the film "Podokshep" in 2007 and Special Jury Award for Best Actor for the film "Dekha" in 2000. He has also been conferred with India's civilian Padma Bhushan award in 2004. Chatterjee's versatility is not confined only in the realm of cinema and theatre, he has more than a dozen books of poems to his credit. Besides cinema, Chatterjee has since long been associated with the stage and is also an accomplished elocutionist. Dada Saheb Phalke Award is the highest annual cine award being given by the Government of India since 1969 in recognition of lifetime contribution to the country's film industry. The award is named after Dada Saheb Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, a pioneer producer-director-screenwriter of early 20th century who is now known as the father of Indian cinema. PTI