--- name: "Victor Banerjee" canonical: "https://film.one/person/victor-banerjee" roles: ["Actor"] born: "16 October 1946" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-20T06:31:45.452143+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Victor Banerjee Actor. Born 16 October 1946 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 16 October 1946, Calcutta, West Bengal, India - **Also known as:** Victor Bannerjee, Partho Sarathi Banerjee, পার্থসারথি ব্যানার্জী, ভিক্টর বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Banerjee, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q962572, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051856/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/78951 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*A Passage to India*](https://film.one/film/a-passage-to-india.md) (71) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Victor Banerjee > Victor Banerjee plays men who are quick to like people and slow to recover from a slight, and his tell is a laugh that arrives a beat too soon. In *A Passage to India* he is better than the film around him. Watch the mosque scene in *A Passage to India* (1984). Ernest Day has moonlight on the water outside, an old Englishwoman has wandered in with her shoes off, and Dr Aziz, who came to be alone, is talking to her before he has decided whether he should. Banerjee lets Aziz laugh a beat too soon, and then he lets us see the laugh cost him. It is a performance built on eagerness and on how much eagerness hurts when it is not returned. He gets a bungalow so small his friends sit on the bed, and he offers it as if it were a palace. That was the year the West noticed him, though he had been working for Satyajit Ray since *Shatranj Ke Khilari* (1977), also known as *The Chess Players*, in which he played the Prime Minister. He made three films with Ray in all, including *Ghare Baire* (1984), another literary adaptation, as Nikhilesh Choudhury. Lean came the same year, Roman Polanski's *Bitter Moon* (1992) followed with Banerjee as Mr Singh, and there was work with James Ivory, Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal, in Hindi, Bengali, English and Assamese, and as late as *High Life* (2018). The pattern is clear enough: educated men, often in period dress, standing where two worlds meet and being asked to choose. What he does well is play the wound without playing the victim. Aziz moves from host to injured party to a man in a rage, and Banerjee never asks for sympathy along the way; he simply shows us each stage and lets Peggy Ashcroft's tired, dry Mrs Moore be the one person who sees it. Their scenes are the heart of Lean's film. The moment that stayed with us is smaller: Aziz summoned to Major Callendar's house, kept waiting, and then watching Callendar's wife take his carriage without a word. Banerjee does almost nothing, and we felt the humiliation of it more sharply than anything in the trial that follows. The trouble is that the trial does follow, and Lean's last hour slows to a procession while the man at the centre of it is left to wait. Banerjee is better than the film around him, which is a compliment to him and a limit on what he could do with the part. We have reviewed only this one of his films, so we can say with confidence what he does at his best and less about how often he has been allowed to do it. He has described himself as selective, preferring quality to volume and keeping his distance from mainstream Bollywood. He also once said, "A film is like a one-night stand and theatre is a commitment." He has treated cinema accordingly, and cinema, on the evidence of Aziz, has lost by it. ## Biography Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who has appeared in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese films. He trained at St Edmund's School in Shillong and graduated in English literature from St Xavier's College, Calcutta, later studying comparative literature at Jadavpur University. Banerjee made his screen debut as the Prime Minister in Satyajit Ray's *Shatranj Ke Khilari* (1977). He gained international attention for his role as Dr Aziz H. Ahmed in David Lean's *A Passage to India* (1984), for which he received a BAFTA nomination and won the Evening Standard British Film Award and National Board of Review Award. His other credits include *Bitter Moon* (1992), *Gunday* (2014) and *High Life* (2018). He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2022. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *A Passage to India* (1984), Fi1m 71, as Dr. Aziz H. Ahmed — [page](https://film.one/film/a-passage-to-india.md) ## Complete filmography (78) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Roi Roi Binale* (2025), Actor - *Raktabeej 2* (2025), as Animesh Chatterjee - *City of Small Blessings* (2024), Actor - *Raktabeej* (2023), as President Animesh Chatterjee - *Sannyasi Deshonayok* (2022), Actor - *Akorik* (2022), Actor - *Thinking of Him* (2022), as Rabindranath Tagore - *Tryst With Destiny* (2021), series, as Mr. Ashwa - *Josef - Born in Grace* (2019), as Father O'Hara - *Rainbow Fields* (2019), Actor - *High Life* (2018), as Indian Professor - *The Answer* (2018), as Paramhansa Yogananda - *Alifa* (2018), Actor - *Biporjoy* (2017), Actor - *Love Express* (2016), Actor - *Land of the Gods* (2016), Writer - *Fever* (2016), as Dr. David Roy - *Unfreedom* (2015), as Fareed Rahmani - *Children of War* (2014), as Baba - *Jeeya Jurir Xubax* (2014), as Dhon - *Gunday* (2014), as SP of Calcutta - *Sound* (2013), as Professor Dr. Sen - *Kagojer Nouka* (2013), Actor - *Tor Naam* (2012), as Swapna's father - *As the River Flows* (2012), as grandfather of Sudakshina - *Delhi in a Day* (2012), as Dhanbir - *Gosain Baganer Bhoot* (2011), as Ram Kabiraj - *Meherjaan* (2011), as Khwaja Saheb - *Bondhu Eso Tumi* (2010), Actor - *Aladin* (2009), as Grandfather - *Crossroads of Love* (2009), Actor - *Tahaan* (2008), as Grandfather - *Sarkar Raj* (2008), as Mike Rajan - *Kali Shankar* (2007), Actor - *Chaurahen* (2007), as Dr Bose - *Apne* (2007), Actor - *Bandhu* (2007), Actor - *Ta Ra Rum Pum* (2007), as Shubho Shekhar Rai Banerjee - *Aloy Phera* (2007), Actor - *The Bong Connection* (2006), as Gary - *Bradford Riots* (2006), as Azad - *Ho Sakta Hai!* (2006), as Dadaji - *My Brother... Nikhil* (2005), as Navin Kapoor - *Bhalobashi Tomake* (2005), Actor - *Bow Barracks Forever!* (2004), as Peter the Cheater - *Bandhan* (2004), as Pratap Narayan Chowdhury - *Abar Asbo Phire* (2004), Actor - *Joggers Park* (2003), as Justice J.P. Chatterjee - *Bhoot* (2003), as Dr. Rajan - *Deva* (2002), Actor - *Chandramallika* (2002), Actor - *Dada Thakur* (2001), Actor - *Manush Keno Beiman* (1999), Actor - *Rajdanda* (1999), Actor - *Tumi Eley Tai* (1999), Actor - *Amar Maa* (1998), Actor - *Danab* (1997), Actor - *Lathi* (1996), as Atindranath - *Mahaan* (1996), Actor - *Bitter Moon* (1992), as Mr. Singh - *World Within, World Without* (1991), as Elder Son - *Debota* (1990), Actor - *Byabodhan* (1990), Actor - *Aakrosh* (1989), as Samrat - *Dadah Is Death* (1988), as Karpal Singh - *Ekanta Apan* (1987), Actor - *Foreign Body* (1986), as Ram Das - *The Home and the World* (1985), as Nikhilesh Choudhury - *A Passage to India* (1984), as Dr. Aziz H. Ahmed — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/film/a-passage-to-india.md) - *Protidan* (1983), Actor - *Doosri Dulhan* (1983), as Anil - *Arohan* (1983), as Jotdar Bibhutibhushan Ganguly - *Madhuban* (1983), Actor - *Pikoo* (1981), as The Lover - *Kalyug* (1981), as Dhan Raj - *Two Worlds* (1980), as Kunal Dutta - *Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures* (1978), as Georgie - *The Chess Players* (1977), as Prime Minister --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/victor-banerjee