Soumitra's Guide: Chhabi Biswas
This is what happens if you have a true guide in the film industry. The story goes that Chhabi Biswas was so fond of Soumitra Chatterjee that the veteran actor ensured that his junior got opportunities to hone his acting chops wherever and whenever possible. Once Star theatre's owner, Salil Mitra, took Soumitra to a room in the backstage where Chhabi Biswas used to sit. Inside, he spilled the beans about how Biswas had insisted that he get Soumitra to join his theatre. The reason? Well, the move would not only benefit Star Theatre but also help Soumitra to learn something.
Soumitra himself had got an idea about that when they were shooting together for Ajay Kar's Atal Jaler Ahwan (1962). The duo was playing father and son and had to do a 60 ft long shot. Something went wrong and Soumitra just didn't get his act right. After numerous tries, a helpless Soumitra went up to the veteran actor, rubbed his paunch and surrendered to him saying: "Can you please show me how to do it correctly?" Chhabi looked him in the eye and asked: "So, you have understood that you aren't getting it right?" Soumitra was more than eager to admit his lacuna. "Of course. That's why I am asking you to guide me," he said. An arrangement was made that Soumitra would say Chhabi Biswas' lines while he would do the former's part. While enacting, he paused at the point where Soumitra was going wrong, corrected his mistake and asked: "Did you see?" Soumitra nodded and was asked to rehearse the entire portion. Once Soumitra rectified his act, all that Chhabi Biswas had told him was: "Shikhe nao, shikhe nao. Aar kobe shikhbe? (Learn now. Otherwise, when will you learn?)" The film released on May 25, 1962, at Sree, Lotus and Indira. Little did the viewers who raved about the father-son scenes know what went behind getting them right.