Bengal mourns Saheb's death

Kolkata: Actor-turned politician Tapas Paul died of a massive heart attack in a private hospital in Mumbai early on Tuesday morning.

He was 61 years old and is survived by his wife and daughter. His mortal remains will be kept at Rabindra Sadan from 11 am on Tuesday. He will be cremated with a state honour on Wednesday evening at Keoratala crematorium.

Calling Tapas Paul a superstar, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "His death has created an irreparable loss to film industry and politics. Bengal government had awarded a special prize to him for his contribution in films in 2012. I express my heartfelt condolences to his family, relatives and admirers."

According to Nandini Paul, the actor was rushed to hospital on February 1 after he fell ill at the Mumbai airport on his way to the United States for treatment. Paul, known for films such as Saheb and Amar Bandhan, was on ventilator till February 6. "He was taken off the ventilator and was recovering, but suddenly his condition worsened and he died of cardiac arrest around 3.30 am on Tuesday," Nandini Paul said.

In 1980, he made his debut in Bengali feature film Dadar Kirti directed by Tarun Majumdar. The film was based on a story by Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. Hemanta Mukherjee had composed the music and his coactors were Kali Banerjee, Ruma Guhathakurta, Anup Kumar, Mohua Roychowdhury, Debashree Ray among others. The film brought instant fame to Paul. He had acted in more than 300 Bengali and Hindi films. Of these, Gurudakshina, Bhalobasa Bhalobasa, Saheb were great box-office hit. Paul had acted in Abodh which was Madhuri Dixit's first Hindi film in 1984. Inspired by Mamata Banerjee, Paul was the first actor from Tollywood who joined the Trinamool Congress and was an MLA for nearly a decade (2001-09). He was an MP from Krishnanagar from 2009 to 2019.

Several Tollywood and Bollywood actors said that his demise was unacceptable and remembered him for his simplicity. Condoling his death, veteran actress Madhabi Chakraborty said: "He will always be remembered for his simplicity," while Ranjit Mullick added: "His untimely death is unacceptable." Prasenjit Chatterjee said: "Tapas Paul had brought new hope to Bengali films." Actor turned politician Chiranjit said: "His sincerity was remarkable. He was the most popular romantic hero from 1980 onwards." Madhuri wrote on Twitter: "The loss of Tapas Paul who was one of the very first actors, I have worked with is felt by many. May God bless and comfort his family during this difficult period."

Veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee said: "His death is unbearable for me. I saw him coming to Tollywood and acted in several popular films like Dadar Kirti, Saheb and Bhalobasa Bhalobasa. It is always painful to see the death of actors who are much junior to me in age." Rituparna Sengupta said: "It is impossible to forget his smile." Director Buddhadeb Dasgupta said: "He was a serious actor and was very cordial with his colleagues."

Mayor Firhad Hakim said: "The vindictive attitude of the Centre to keep him in custody for 13 months had affected his mental and physical health."