Film and television actor Abhishek Chatterjee dies suddenly at 57

Film and television actor Abhishek Chatterjee died early today. He was 57.

According to the Anandabazar Patrika newspaper, the actor took ill while shooting for dance reality show Ishmart Jodi yesterday and died in the wee hours at his residence. The cause of death has not been confirmed yet though some television reports said he suffered a heart attack.

In a statement, actor Bharat Kaul said, “On Tuesday, Abhishek had food poisoning and was sent home. He came to shoot for Ishmart Jodi on Wednesday again, but suddenly his blood pressure fell to 80. He had black coffee and was sent home later. That was the last time we met.”

Some reports said the actor had not been keeping good health.

Chatterjee made his big-screen debut in Tarun Majumdar’s Pathbhola (1986) and had a reasonably successful career alongside Prosenjit, Tapas Paul, Rituparna Sengupta and other stars of 1990s Bengali cinema.

Some of his prominent films are Tushar Majumdar’s Mayabini (1992), Haranath Chakraborty’s Sangharsha (1995), Rituparno Ghosh’s Dahan (1997) and Bariwali (2000), and Tarun Majumder’s Alo (2003).

Apart from appearing in close to 100 films, he worked extensively in television series. He was seen recently in the Star Jalsa series Khorkuto, Mohor, Phagun Bou and Kusum Dola.

Chatterjee is survived by his wife Sanjukta and their daughter.