Victor Banerjee is one of the extremely famous and internationally acclaimed actors of Bengali Silver screen for his stong voice and appearence on the screen. Besides working as an actor in Bengali, Hindi and English films, he has also directed films and  worked for prominent directors like Jerry London, Shyam Benegal, Satyajit Ray, Roman Polanski, James Ivory and David Lean. He was the descendant of Womesh Chandra Banerjee, a leading intellectual of his time and president of Indian National Congress (1885). Victor did his schooling from Shillong’s St. Edmunds School. He received his Bachelors in English from St Xaviers’ College of Kolkata. He has worked in a Multinational Company for five years and later started travel agency business. He has also played in Senior Division Hockey League and Second Division Football League. He got married to Maya Banerjee and has two daughters.

He got his first break in Satyajit Ray’s “Satranj Ki Khiladi” (1977). Satranj Ki Khiladi was a superb film by Satyajit Ray which helped Victor to come into limelight. His first Bengali movie was “Dui Prithivi” directed by Pijush Basu in 1980. Satyajit Ray’s memorable movie Ghare Baire(1984) earned him high recognition as an actor in Bengal . Although Satyajit Ray wanted him to do the role of Sandip. But he was determined to play Nikhilesh’s character and took it as a challenge which was highly rewarded. In 1984, he acted as Dr. Aziz Ahmed in David Lean’s adaptation of the book A Passage to India, bringing him to the attention of Western audiences. Victor was nominated for BAFTA award for this role in 1986. He won two other awards for this role: Evening Standard British Film Award and NBR Award (National Board Review, USA).  He acted in Merchant Ivory Productions Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie’s Pictures.

Though in recent years he has largely been involved with Bollywood, he is also affiliated with the Bengali film industry. He also plays ‘character actor’ roles from time to time in the British cinema. He was also cast in the role of Jesus by director Stephen Pimlott in the 1988 production of the York Mystery Plays.  “A passage to India “ (1984) also gave him enormous fame. Apart from that , he has worked in many Hindi movies like “Jogger’s park” (2003), My brother Nikhil (2005), Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007), Apne (2007).

His performance in “ Bow barracks forever’is also quite noteworthy. He has also directed a movie named ‘August requim’in English and “Agun”in Bengali. He has traveled abroad extensively and has worked in many British plays. He received American Goldie Award for the documentary” Where no journey end”. The actor also received National award for his photography in “ The splendours of Garowal and Rupkundu”. His role in Ghare Baire gave him the Best Actor award by B.F.J.A. He has been vocal from time to time about human rights and labour issues, and campaigned for the formation of Uttarakhand and rights of Garwali farmers. He joined Indian politics and stood for election as a candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party. In 1985, he formed Cine Co Artist Society for extra artists.

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