Bengali actress-filmmaker Aparna Sen penned a long note on Tuesday, mourning the death of Tollywood actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee.
The actress shared her experience working with Rahul and his former wife, Priyanka Sarkar, in the 2015 film Arshinagar. Rahul and Priyanka played a brief role in the film, which stars Dev and Rittika.
“Rahul! Why did you have to leave so soon? I can’t make sense of any of this. When this tragic accident happened, I wasn’t in Kolkata, and I still am not. I’ve distanced myself from so many things…removed myself from so much…yet your untimely passing has shaken me even from afar. I can’t even fathom that you’re truly gone,” the 80-year-old artist wrote on Facebook.
She further wrote, “It wasn’t as if I met you very often. I only had the fortune of seeing you in a single scene in one of my films. In Arshinagar, you and Priyanka worked on a small project as guest artists. That was the first time. The last.”
Aparna Sen shared that, like many others, the actress was an admirer of Rahul’s acting skills, writing, and eloquence. She never got the chance to appear on Rahul’s podcast Shahoj Kotha, though she had hoped that someday Rahul would invite her.
“I don’t know if there’s any existence after death for humans. If there is, may you rule it with new life. All our love remains with you,” the actress concluded.
Actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee died at 43 on March 29 after allegedly drowning at Talsari beach in Odisha.
Banerjee, 43, was a prominent figure in the Bengali cultural space.
He began his acting career with Chaka in 2000 and rose to fame with Chirodini Tumi Je Amar. His filmography includes Abar Asbo Phire, Jackpot, Zulfiqar, Biday Byomkesh, Byomkesh Gotro, Megha Dhaka Tara, and Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei. He was most recently seen in the web series Thakumar Jhuli.