Prosenjit Chatterjee breaks silence on row over Rashtrapati Bhawan portrait of Netaji

On Monday, Twitter was flooded with an extensive debate after a section of social media posts claimed that the portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose unveiled by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan is that of an actor — Prosenjit Chatterjee — who played him in a biopic.

Prosenjit Chatterjee broke his silence over the debate where comparisons were made between his character of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 'Gumnaami' and the portrait of Netaji at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. "As an actor, I'm elated that people thought that the painting resembles my character," Prosenjit said. He went on to congratulate Paresh Maity, the painter behind Netaji's portrait.

Would like to congratulate Paresh Maity for the wonderful piece of art in remembrance of our National hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. As an Actor,I’m elated that people thought,that the painting resembles my character in Gumnami,dir. by @srijitspeaketh and prosthetics by Somnath pic.twitter.com/HBkXvwFFSw

— Prosenjit Chatterjee (@prosenjitbumba) January 25, 2021

It was also pointed out by the director of Gumnaami that Prosenjit's striking resemblance to Netaji was because of the terrific prosthetics used by Somnath Kundu.

The following is the picture on the basis of which the painting at Rashtrapati Bhawan was painted by Paresh Maity. For any similarity of Prosenjit's look to this photo, the credit goes to Somnath Kundu. #Gumnaami @prosenjitbumba pic.twitter.com/Lhy5FTzjtt

— Srijit Mukherji (@srijitspeaketh) January 25, 2021

His name is Somnath Kundu. He has been doing exemplary work under ridiculously limited resources in films like Dhananjoy, Zulfiqar, Ek Je Chhilo Raja, Vinci Da & Agantuk. He should have got at least two National awards by now. He is unknown because he is frm the wrong 'wood'. https://t.co/ipAiqcYIXT

— Srijit Mukherji (@srijitspeaketh) January 25, 2021

Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji's grand-nephew and a member of the BJP, also took to his Twitter handle and clarified that it was Netaji's original picture.

Portrait unveiled by the Hon’ble President of India-Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji @rashtrapatibhvn is based on #Netaji's original photograph.Its an artists impression of #Netaji. https://t.co/chtZk1a9l2 pic.twitter.com/MkQGEtFq5d

— Chandra Kumar Bose (@Chandrakbose) January 25, 2021

President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday to mark the beginning of year-long celebrations to commemorate the freedom fighter's 125th birth anniversary.

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