Santosh Dutta was a Bengali character actor, best known for immortalizing the character of Jatayu

Jatayu (Lal Mohan Ganguly)

Lalmohan Ganguly, alias Jatayu , is a character in the Feluda stories written by Satyajit Ray. He writes crime thrillers, but is quite weak and nervous in real life. He is fairly wealthy due to the immense sales of his books; he writes two books a year...

in Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

's Feluda

Feluda

Feluda, or Prodosh Chandra Mitra, who uses the anglicised name Pradosh C. Mitter, is a fictional private investigator starring in a series of Bengali novels and short stories written by the famous Indian Bengali film director and writer Satyajit Ray. The detective lives at Rajani Sen Road,...

 movies viz. Sonar Kella

Sonar Kella

Sonar Kella , also Shonar Kella, released in the United States as The Golden Fortress, is a 1971 mystery novel and a 1974 film by Bengali writer and director Satyajit Ray. The film is an adaptation of the novel with minor plot changes and features the actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta,...

and Joi Baba Felunath

Joi Baba Felunath

Joi Baba Felunath is a 1979 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, featuring the actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee, Utpal Dutt among others.The film is based on the famous Feluda novel of the same name written by Ray....

. A lawyer by profession, Santosh Dutta will be remembered as one of the greatest comedians Bengali Films ever had. Essentially a comedian, he elevated comedy acting to the levels of character roles. Satyajit Ray gave him the first break with a small role in his immortal film "Paras Pathar". After 'Sonar Kella', he became so associated with the role of "Jatayu" that Satyajit Ray later reframed the appearance of Jatayu and started making the sketches of Jatayu resembling Dutta in Feluda novels . And after the death of this actor, Ray once remarked that there will be no further movies in the Feluda series as Jatayu cannot be thought of without Santosh Dutta. Though the role of Jatayu, have been later played by several artistes like Anoop Kumar, Rabi Ghosh and Bibhu Bhattacharya, all of these actors agreed that it was impossible to play the character without the influence of Santosh Dutta in mind.

Apart from playing Jatayu, Dutta also paid crucial roles in Satyajit Ray's masterpieces for children like Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen and Hirak Rajar Deshe. In 'Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen', Dutta played dual role of the kings of "Halla" and "Shundi". In 'Hirak Rajar Deshe', which is a sequel to 'Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen', Dutta played the role of a mysterious scientist (known as Gobeshok Gobochondro Gyanotirtho Gyanorotno Gyanambudhi Gyanochuramoni), in addition to a small appearance for the same 'King of Shundi'.

Another milestone in Dutta's career was playing Gopal Bhar

Gopal Bhar

Gopal Bhar or Gopal Bhand was a legendary court jester in medieval Bengal. He was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the famous king of Nadia in the 18th century AD. Such was the genius of Gopal that the king considered him as a Navaratna of his court...

 in the movie of same name, Gopal Bhar

Gopal Bhar

Gopal Bhar or Gopal Bhand was a legendary court jester in medieval Bengal. He was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the famous king of Nadia in the 18th century AD. Such was the genius of Gopal that the king considered him as a Navaratna of his court...

, being a humorous character known for centuries in India, particularly the state of West Bengal.

The role of Abalakanto in "Ogo Bodhu Sundari" has also become legendary.

Santosh Dutta also played important roles in films like Teen Kanya, Paras Pathar, Kapurush O Mahapurush, Streer Patra, Marjina Abdallah, Jana Aranya, Char Murti and Gana Devata. He also played the roles of comedians in some commercial theaters. "Kone Bibhrat" was one of the plays in his later years which was a mega hit. He also worked in a TV serial called "Goenda Bhagabandas" along with Rabi Ghosh, another famous actor of his time.

Filmography

Year	Film Name	Director	Genre	Role
1958	Paras Pathar	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1958	Headmaster	Agragami		Actor
1961	Teen Kanya	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1965	Mahapurush	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1968	Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1973	Marjina Abdulla	Dinen Gupta		Actor
1973	Shriman Prithviraj	Tarun Majumdar		Actor
1974	Jadu Bansha	Partha Prathim Choudhury		Actor
1974	Sonar Kella	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1976	Asadharan	Salil Sen		Actor
1977	Ei Prithibir Panthanibas	Aravind Mukherjee		Actor
1977	Shesh Raksha	Shankar Bhattacharya		Actor
1977	Sister	Pijush Bose		Actor
1977	Joi Baba Felunath	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1978	Charmurti	Umanath Bhattacharya		Actor
1979	Ghatkali	Bimal Roy Jr.		Actor
1979	Brajabuli	Pijush Bose		Actor
1980	Abhi	Apurba Kumar Mitra		Actor
1980	Hirak Rajar Deshe	Satyajit Ray		Actor
1980	Sandhi	Amal Dutta		Actor
1980	Paka Dekha	Aravind Mukherjee		Actor
1980	Gopal Bhanar	Amal Sur		Actor
1981	Subarnalata	Bijoy Bose		Actor
1981	Ogo Bodhu Sundari	Salil Dutta		Actor
1982	Khelar Putul	Tarun Majumdar		Actor
1982	Malancha	Purnendu Pattrea		Actor
1982	Rasamoyeer Rasikata	Amal Sur		Actor
1983	Kauke Bolo Na	Vishwanath Mukherjee		Actor
1983	Duti Pata	Bimal Roy Jr.		Actor
1983	Srinkhal	Abir Basu		Actor
1984	Pujarini	Partha Prathim Choudhury		Actor
1984	Shilalipi	Palash Bannerjee		Actor
1984	Rajeswari	Salil Dutta		Actor
1984	Sorgol	Biswajit		Actor
1984	Lolita	Tapan Choudhury		Actor
1984	Amar Geeti	Tarun Majumdar		Actor
1984	Joy Parajoy	Chandan Mukherjee		Actor
1985	Nishante	Narayan Chakraborty		Actor
1985	Hulusthul	Aravind Mukherjee		Actor
1985	Baikunther Will	Sushil Mukherjee		Actor
1985	Aamar Prithibi	Bimal Bhowmick		Actor
1986	Dui Adhyay	Goutam Mukhopadhyay		Actor
1986	Urbashe	Salil Dutta		Actor
1987	Abir	Kamal Majumdar		Actor
1987	Samrat-O-Sundari	Bimal Roy Jr.		Actor
1988	Agni Sanket	Swarup Dutta		Actor
1989	Gili Gili Gay	Ishwar Chakraborty		Actor
1991	Palataka	Saran Dey		Actor.