Soumitra Chatterjee birth anniversary: Here are some interesting facts you didn't know about the Bengali thespian

Chatterjee debuted with Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar (the third part of Apu trilogy) in 1959. Interestingly, Soumitra had gone to meet Satyajit Ray on the sets of 'Jalsaghar', completely unaware of the fact that he had been selected for the title role of Apu trilogy. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Some of Ray's landmark films in which Chatterjee featured include 'Sonar Kella', 'Jai Baba Felunath', 'Charulata', 'Ghare Baire', 'Ashani Sanket', 'Devi', 'Abhijan', 'Aranyer Din Ratri' and 'Ganashatru'. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Apart from Ray, under whose direction, Chatterjee acted in 14 films, the veteran artist has worked with renowned filmmakers such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Chatterjee was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2011. He is also a recipient of the coveted Legion d'Honneur, France's highest civilian honor. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Satyajit Ray had written some very diverse roles keeping Soumitra Chatterjee in mind. Chatterjee went on to become the lead as Feluda/Pradosh Chandra Mitter in two films in Sonar Kella (1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (1979). The protagonist Feluda was a private investigator from Calcutta. Ray even made some illustrations of Feluda based on Soumitra Chatterjee's body figure. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Soumitra Chatterjee returned to theatre with his production 'Naam Jiban' in 1978 after a two-decade career in Tollywood. Since 2010, he has been playing the lead role in the play 'Raja Lear', a play based on King Lear by William Shakespeare. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)

Apart from theatre and Tollywood, Soumitra recently played the lead role in Sujoy Ghosh's short film 'Ahalya', co-starring Radhika Apte. The film has a spooky twist in the end and is gripping throughout. (Photo | YouTube Screengrab)