Victor Banerjee


Actor

About

Also Known As
Victor Bannerji, Victor Bannerjee, Victor Banerji
Birth Place
India
Born
October 15, 1946

Biography

Sensitive Indian actor in several films by Satyajit Ray and best known for his finely calibrated performance opposite Judy Davis in David Lean's "A Passage to India" (1984). Banerjee began his career on the Calcutta stage as a child actor and appeared frequently in amateur theatrical productions. After attending university, he was introduced to director Satyajit Ray who, recalling Banerj...

Family & Companions

Maya Banerjee
Wife

Biography

Sensitive Indian actor in several films by Satyajit Ray and best known for his finely calibrated performance opposite Judy Davis in David Lean's "A Passage to India" (1984). Banerjee began his career on the Calcutta stage as a child actor and appeared frequently in amateur theatrical productions. After attending university, he was introduced to director Satyajit Ray who, recalling Banerjee's earlier stage work, offered him a part in "The Chess Players" (1977), an uneven historical drama about colonial Indian politics. It was the beginning of a long association in which Banerjee starred in such Ray films as the short "Pikoo's Day" (1981) and "Home and the World" (1984).

Though Banerjee began working in Western films with the James Ivory comedy "Hullabaloo Over Georgia and Bonnie's Pictures" (1979) opposite Peggy Ashcroft, it was the pivotal role of Dr. Aziz in "A Passage To India" (1984) that marked a turning point in his career. He next starred in the English comedy "Foreign Body" (1986) as a shy clerk who poses as a London physician, and then was cast by Roman Polanski in his dark comedy "Bitter Moon" (1994) as Mr. Sikh, a benign patriarch who personified family values. Though Banerjee works in the West, he remains active in the Indian film industry, frequently working in Bengali art cinema.

Life Events

1951

Made stage debut at age five in "Pirates of Penzance"

1977

Film acting debut in Satyajit Ray's "Shatranj ke Khilari/The Chess Players"

1979

Debut in a Western produced film, "Hullabaloo Over Georgia and Bonnie's Pictures"

1981

Stage directing debut, "An August Requiem"

1984

Was instrumental in forming the first Screen Extras Union in India (later made founding secretary)

1988

US TV debut, "Dadah Is Death"

Videos

Movie Clip

Passage To India, A (1984) -- (Movie Clip) God Is Here Indian local doctor in training Aziz (Victor Banerjee), stranded when his ride is hijacked by oblivious English ladies, drops by a mosque where he’s surprised first by Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft, who was recommended for the role by novelist E.M. Forster), then by her gracious attitude, in David Lean’s A Passage To India, 1984.
Passage To India, A (1984) -- (Movie Clip) I Thought She Was A Ghost Adela (Judy Davis), visiting from England and determined to experience something of the “real India,” is conversing with Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee) and scholar Professor Godbole (Alec Guiness) when her fiancè, colonial judge Ronny (Nigel Havers) appears, finding everything inappropriate, in David Lean’s A Passage To India, 1984.
Passage To India, A (1984) -- (Movie Clip) I Give Any Englishman Two Years Director David Lean finishes the train journey to fictional interior Chandrapore, introducing Nigel Havers as colonial official Ronny, greeting his mother (Peggy Ashcroft), his betrothed Adela (Judy Davis), his boss (Richard Wilson), then two locals central to the E.M. Forster story, Victor Banerjee and Art Malik, in A Passage To India, 1984.
Hullabaloo Over Georgie And Bonnie's Pictures -- (Movie Clip) Open, Clark Opening from the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory made-for-TV film, Hullabaloo Over Georgie And Bonnie's Pictures, 1980, with Larry Pine as American art buyer "Clark Haven" arriving in Delhi.
Hullabaloo Over Georgie And Bonnie's Pictures -- (Movie Clip) Bitter Rivals Aparna Sen (her anglicized nickname "Bonnie") with brother Victor Banerjee (nickname "Georgie") discussing Western art collectors, then Lady Gwyneth (Peggy Ashcroft) arriving, in the Merchant-Ivory production Hullabaloo Over Georgie And Bonnie's Pictures, 1980.

Trailer

Companions

Maya Banerjee
Wife

Bibliography