Obhi was born and brought up in London, the son of Bengali parents (Padma & Jayanta Chatterjee) who regularly organised cultural events in and around London which usually featured the music, plays and dance of Rabindranath Tagore. He has accompanied some of the top singers of Rabindrasangeet on tabla, including Subinoy Roy and Kanika Banerjee.
His interest in moving images developed at an early age from watching his father use an 8mm camera to record holidays and film a short, stop-motion animation sequence. He has been a keen film and theatre-goer since he was a child, as well as being fascinated by technology. While at Bath University, he was responsible for sound on several theatrical productions.
Since his marriage to Kaberi Chatterjee, Obhi has been exploring the possibilities presented by digital audiovisual technologies to develop his creative side and to promote international awareness of the works of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Council of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Theatre
Sep 2012 – The Story of Gitanjali – directing, narrating and singing in a performance in Brussels for the global premiere of Chitrangada. Each of the poems in the show will be recited in a different European language, with English and French supertitles.
May 2012 – The Story of Gitanjali – directed, narrated and sang in a performance of the 1-hour show in the garden of Shakespeare’s Birthplace to celebrate Tagore’s 151st birth anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the publication of the English Gitanjali.
Jan 2012 – Shyama – directed and introduced performances of Rabindranath Tagore’s dance-drama at five major theatres in Egypt by Kaberi Chatterjee and dancers from Santiniketan with lighting designer Debanshu Majumder. The venues included the Cairo and Alexandria Opera Houses. These were the first performances of Shyama to be presented on stage with supertitling in English and Arabic.
Jun 2006 – Manipuri dance – directed and narrated a solo stage performance by Kaberi Chatterjee at the Purcell Room, London, creating a dynamic, virtual backdrop for the show.
Filmography
December 2013 – You must be nuts! – humorous investigative documentary about coconut oil and dementia
May 2013 – The story of Gitanjali – film version of the live performance in Brussels for the global premiere of Chitrangada in September 2012
Sep 2012 – Chitrangada – authentic, feature film version of Rabindranath Tagore’s classic dance-drama
May 2011 – Chandalika – authentic, feature film version of Rabindranath Tagore’s classic dance-drama
Sep 2010 – Kaberi’s Indian cooking: Episode 1 – start of Kaberi’s webseries about easy, healthy Indian cooking
Aug 2010 – Shyama podcast: Special edition – Kolkata Film Festival – presenting Shyama at the Kolkata Film Festival 2009
Sep 2009 – Shyama – authentic, feature film version of Rabindranath Tagore’s classic dance-drama
Mar 2009 – Shyama podcast: Episode 2 – second part of our podcast series about Shyama and Tagore
Feb 2009 – Shyama podcast: Episode 1 – start of our podcast series about Shyama and Tagore
Jul 2008 – Kaberi’s Indian dance workout DVD – interactive workout DVD devised and choreographed by Kaberi Chatterjee; Obhi also composed and performed the music
Mar 2006 – Adapting – 23-minute documentary short
Nov 2005 – Manipuri dance – promotional trailer and DVD for Kaberi Chatterjee
Sep 2005 – Tagore’s dance influences – video documentary presented by Kaberi Chatterjee as part of her doctoral thesis