Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964: Shailen Mukherjee in Charulata

Shailen Mukherjee did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Bhupati Dutta in Charulata. 

Charulata follows the lonely wife of a newspaper editor as she bonds with her husband's visiting cousin. 

Shailen Mukherjee plays the traditional role of the "husband" though this role is considerably different than in most stories of this ilk, particularly due to Satyajit Ray's intimate understanding of human relations. In turn we get something quite a bit different, and fitting that Mukherjee's performance is far from the dispassionate fool and the jealous tyrant that is often the undesirable husband. Actually Mukherjee portrays really a great guy, but with an unfortunate bit of oversight on his part. The part on paper is similar to Karenin from Anna Karenina, at least the properly depicted ones, where the husband actually is a good man, and in part his goodness is part of what creates the situation involving his wife potentially looking elsewhere. The film opens with the wife, the titular Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee) being lonely and bored in a house that can't quite suit her interests. We do see her interact with her husband, where the male Mukherjee really is nothing but a sweet husband. He greets her with a bright smile, and genuine sense of affection. There is though an essential kind of complacency in these interactions however where Mukherjee projects perhaps too much comfort in the relationship, as every moment has a sense of taking it all for granted. This is never in a cruel way, rather Mukherjee expresses sincerely a man who just believes his wife is happy, just as he is happy, and feels they can go on as they have been doing so. 

What disrupts this is the arrival of Bhupati's cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), who is interested in Bhupati's newspaper, that is devoted to democratic political movements. Bhupati supports both this interest, and actually providing his wife a companion to discuss her interests while he is taken away to the duties of his paper. Mukherjee's scenes are infrequent but important throughout the emotional "affair" had between Amal and Charulata. We have scenes of him running his newspaper where Mukherjee portrays a great enthusiasm and passion in his involvement with the development in the country. There is the kind of engagement we don't see in his wife, however what Mukherjee portrays is the type of passion that would denote a dogged newspaper hero if we only saw the scenes at the newspaper. We see him as this genuine crusader where Mukherjee delivers this innate sincere energy within his performance, as a man who is trying to truly help others best he can. This is further emphasized oddly enough in his scenes with Chatterjee. This as he encourages him to spend time with his wife, and encourages the man's own interests in general. Mukherjee doesn't portray a fool but rather the goodnatured state of the man. This as his delivery and manner is just dripping with enthusiasm for seeing his wife happy and cultivating the interests of his cousin. In these moments there are no doubts, because Mukherjee presents a man who would be incapable of seeing anything but the purest intentions in his family. This is shattered though when other members of his family steal from him, ruining his business and really his trust in humanity. Mukherjee has a heartbreaking moment with Chatterjee, this as Bhupati insists he's the only man he can trust, while Amal has finally caught on to Charulata's interest in him. Bhupati's delivery is still so sincere in his eyes presenting such familial affection, but not broken by that mistreatment he felt from others. This makes Mukherjee's delivery have this painful desperation of a man, who doesn't just believe in Amal, but essentially has to keep any faith in the world. Amal does this by leaving quickly and preventing any real affair from occurring, leaving the end of the film between the two Mukherjees. Mukherjee is incredibly moving in showing Bhupati moments with his wife, that are so sweet, such as when she suggests to write for his paper, and Bhupati's reaction is perfection. This as his reaction is true enthusiasm, but also this kind of surprise as though he's heard the greatest of ideas and can't believe he never thought of it before. They are also though very heartbreaking this as Bhupati finally catches onto what was going on between his wife and cousin. Mukherjee never has big reaction involving this. Rather it is in his quiet reflection of his wife's reaction to Amal's leaving, that you see such pointed heartbreak in the man's realization of what has happened. The final scenes then are heartbreaking in Mukherjee brings the man trying to be the best possible attentive husband he can be, while there is this quiet resignation that he'll never be good enough for his wife. Mukherjee finds this elegant and pained state of the man so clearly expressing his love, but being so petrified within his doubts all the same. This right to the final shot of the film, where Mukherjee is entirely silent, yet in terms of the married relationship nothing more needs to be said in conveying what the man is going through as he tries to reach out to his wife to truly connect with her. This is a wonderful performance by Shailen Mukherjee by creating the genuine tragedy in the causality from the central relationship of the film.