On Monday, January 7, Alok Chatterjee, a batchmate of the late actor Irrfan Khan from the National School of Drama from 1984-1987, passed away at the age of 64. According to the reports, there veteran theatre actor Alok had been unwell for a long time and suffered from multiple organ failures.
Lyricist and singer Swanand Kirkire took to his Instagram handle to mourn the death of Alok Chatterjee. Sharing his photo, he wrote, "Aalok Chatterjee... A rare actor has passed away! He was a batchmate of Irrfan at NSD. If Irrfan was Kalidas, then Aalok Chatterjee was its antonym! The antonym has gone to meet his Kalidas! Rest in peace, Aalok Bhai!"
Check it out:
Reportedly, Alok's last rites will be performed today.
Who was Alok Chatterjee?
Born in Madhya Pradesh, Alok Chatterjee, earned a scholarship to study at National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi in 1987.
He was also the former director of the Madhya Pradesh School of Drama, or MPSD, and a gold medalist at NSD. Alok also taught acting in the institute of Anupam Kher, Actor Prepress in Mumbai.
In 2023, Alok was honoured with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by President Droupadi Murmu.
Alok Chatterjee had directed William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream and Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman.
Earlier, in one of his earlier interviews, as quoted by Money Control, Alok said, "I had gone to Delhi to become a performer. Had I wanted to do films, I would have gone to FTII Pune. I am living my life for theatre. He had said that I have studied in NSD, due to which theatre is in my blood. I am not a painter sold in the market."
