Chhabi Biswas

Chhabi Biswas Biography

Chhabi Biswas was a popular Bengali actor known for supporting roles. Tapan Sinha's Kabuliwala and Satyajit Ray's films Jalshaghar (1958), Devi (1960) and Kanchenjungha (1962) are his most memorable performances. He was known for portraying rich and aristocratic roles and was Satyajit Ray’s personal favourite. Biswas died in an automobile accident on 11 June 1962 and later Ray admitted that, after Biswas’ death, he has never written a single male middle-aged character for which Biswas was proficient with.

He was born on 12 July 1900 in Ahiritola, Kolkata, West Bengal in a rich and cultured family. His father Bhupatinath Biswas was well known for his charitable works. His real name was Sachindranath. Yet he came to be known with his nick name, Chhabi which his mother called him. He passed matriculation examinations from the Hindu School and joined Presidency College and later at the Vidyasagar College. During his college days he involved with amateur theatrics and got in touch with Sisir Kumar Bhaduri, the legendary figure of Bengali theater. He became deeply influenced by Bhaduri and became a part of several theatre plays. He even tried to join an insurance company as an employee. But due to his love to theatre, he couldn’t stay there and returned back to theater work. Shoroshi (1940), Sita (1940), Kedar Roy (1941), and Shahjehan (1941) are his major plays.

He made his film debut in the year 1936 with Annapurnar Mandir directed by Tinkari Chakraborty. Very soon he became a popular character artist and a few of his memorable roles in the early phase of his film career are Chokker Bali (1937), Nimai Sannyas (1940), Nartaki (1940) and Pratisruti (1941). Nartaki (1940) proved to be the major break of his career. Ashok (1942), Parineeta (1942), Dwanda (1943), Matir Ghar (1944), Dui Purush (1945), Biraj Bou (1946) and Mandana (1950) just followed its success.

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Updated: February 10, 2014