Tota Roy Chowdhury

Tota Roy Chowdhury (ţoţa raechoudhuri) is an Indian actor and martial artist who predominantly works in Bengali cinema.

Personal life

An alumnus of Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong. He was brought up in strict discipline by the Irish-Catholic brothers. He represented his school in football, basketball and athletics. In his final year, he won the schools Best Athlete shield. He graduated from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata.

Career

Early career

During his 2nd year in college, he made up his mind to join the Indian Army and was preparing for the CDS exams when fate intervened and he was asked by the prominent director Prabhat Roy to play a small role in his film. That one film brought other offers and soon he decided to become a professional actor. After starring in a few commercially successful films,he was spotted by the national award winning director Rituparno Ghosh and cast opposite Nandita Das in his film Shubho Mahurat. In spite of the presence of such veteran artistes, such as Raakhee, Sharmila Tagore and Nandita Das in the film, Tota made his mark.

Breakthrough

Chowdhury was cast again opposite Aishwarya Rai in Rituparno's Tagore adaptation, Chokher Bali. It was his breakthrough performance, which was hailed by both the critics and the cinegoers. He won several awards, including the prestigious BFJA Award for the Best Actor. He did an extended cameo in the AR Murugadoss directed Kaththi which introduced him into Tamil film industry. He also starred in the Sujoy Ghosh directed short film Ahalya alongside Soumitra Chatterjee and Radhika Apte. He played the role of Arun in the film Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh; directed by Sujoy Ghosh opposite Vidya Balan, which got him noticed by the Hindi Film Industry. He is currently shooting for the film 'Indu Sarkar', directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, opposite Kirti Kulhari.

Acting credits

Films

Television

• Taranath Tantrik
• Ekhaane Akaash Neel
• Mukhosh Manush