MUMBAI : Veteran Bengali film actor Arun Guhathakurta succumbed to Covid-19 at a south Kolkata hospital around 1.45 pm on Tuesday.

Guhathakurta was a powerful character artiste who is best known for his performances in Bangla films like "Cinemawala" (2016), "Bishorjon" (2017), and "Laptop" (2012) among several others.

"Today we lost one of the finest actors we had in Arun Guha Thakurta to Covid19. Will remember him for his brilliant turns in Cinemawallah, Bishorjon and Chotoder Chobi. Will be dedicating possibly his last work, Chinnomostar Obhishaap in the Feluda Pherot series, to his memory," tweeted director Srijit Mukherji.

"A gem of a person Arun Da was..and such a brilliant actor! Sad sad time around," shared his "Bishorjon" co-star actor Abir Chatterjee.

"Really sad at the demise of veteran actor and director Arun Guhathakurta... has spent some quality time with him in the sets of #cinemawallah and #Apurpanchali he will be etched in our memory forever through his work," wrote Parambrata Chatterjee.

Actress Sudiptaa Chakraborty wrote a long post on Facebook remembering the late actor and calling him a "silent warrior".

Sudiptaa's post reads: "COVID-19 takes away a very talented, humble, dedicated and close-to-earth person.... A very senior technician, an extremely dedicated Assistant Director, an absolutely stunning actor #ArunGuhathakurta. I had first met him during the pre poduction of #MondoMeyerUpakhyan by Buddhadeb Dasgupta way back in 2000. He was the immediate assistant to Buddha da. We worked together in Buddha Da's #Kalpurush too in 2003/4. Throughout his career, he assisted many celebrated filmmakers but remained unnoticed by many.

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"Later on, he became a regular face both behind-the-camera and in-front-of-the-camera of almost all films of #KaushikGanguly .. 'C/O Sir', 'Laptop', 'Chotoder chobi', 'Cinemawala', 'Bisarjan'...to name a few. Arun da had such a flawless presence in 'Cinemawala' that it was hard to believe that he's not #Hari in real life. His portrayal of Hari fetched him a few prestigious awards too as the Best Supporting Actor of that year."

"He played a brilliant 'cook' (rannar thakur) in 'Basu Paribaar' by Suman Ghosh wherein I shared the frames with him last. I think I had last met this ever smiling gentleman during the shoot of 'Jyeshthaputra', I'm not too sure."

"Actually the likes of Arun da are of a rare species. You won't realise that they are around when the work is in progress. But you'll surely feel their absence if they aren't around, when the work is on. They are the absolute silent warriors. May your absolutely pure soul rest in peace Arun da."

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