Gaurav Chakrabarty is an Indian Bengali film and television actor best known for his portrayal of the character Prodipto Lahiri in the Bengali musical TV series Gaaner Oparey that aired on Star Jalsha from 28 June 2010 to 16 April 2011. Chakrabarty is also known for acting in the Bengali classic periodic thriller TV series Byomkesh (2014-2015), where he played the role of iconic Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi. He hails from a family which has had a legacy of association with the Bengali cultural arena, starting from Jochhon Dastidar and Chandra Dastidar (his paternal great uncle and aunt), Bijon Bhattacharya (his paternal great uncle), Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty & Monika Chakrabarty (his paternal grandparents), and his parents Sabyasachi Chakrabarty & Mithu Chakrabarty. He debuted on the big screen Kaushik Ganguly's Rang Milanti one of the most appreciated films of the year 2011.
He is part of the ensemble cast of the ZEE5 cop drama web series, Lalbazaar.
Calcutta Times voted him as one of the 10 Most Desirable Men in 2015.
Education
Chakrabarty had his schooling at the Assembly of God Church School in Kolkata. He subsequently earned a degree in Mass Communication and Videography from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and completed his postgraduation in Video Editing from Film and Television Institute of India at Pune.
Early life
Gaurav got involved in theatre from a young age as part of the group Charbak, where he not only assisted in the backstage work (audio technician in the play Rong, Doodh Kheyechhe Meow and the runaway success Cholo Potol Tuli), but also acted as 'Topshe' in the play Apsara Theatre-er Mamla based on Satyajit Ray's thriller of the same name, under the direction of his father, who himself played the role of Feluda. During his St. Xavier days, he played the lead in a documentary on HIV-Aids, Isolation, by teenage filmmaker Sangbit Samaddar, who was at that time, only a Class 12 student of South Point High School.
His acting debut on the small screen happened post his FTII stint, when he was given a small role in the telefilm BaghNokh by Kaushik Ganguly, which aired on ETV Bangla as part of a weekly series.However, his claim to fame was through the critically acclaimed Bengali musical TV series Gaaner Oparey which also saw the debut of his sibling Arjun Chakrabarty as the male lead Gora.
Career
Gaurav debuted on television, along with his younger sibling Arjun Chakrabarty, in the Star Jalsha megaserial Gaaner Oparey produced by Ideas Creations Pvt. Ltd, the production company helmed by the Tollywood hero Prosenjit Chatterjee. Gaaner Oparey was conceived by the channel as a tribute to the poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary, and would explore his applicability in the increasingly Westernized modern Bengali society.With a script penned initially by actor and director Rituparno Ghosh and later by Anuja Chattopadhyay (who had previously worked on other serials like Ekhane Aakash Neel), the serial is widely credited for having brought back the educated Tagore-loving, intellectual Bengali audience in front of the television. Even though it ran for only about ten months, the show catapulted the young cast, primarily Gaurav, Arjun and Mimi Chakrabarty (who played the female lead) to fame within that short span of time. Chakrabarty's character 'Prodipto Lahiri', in spite of not being the official male lead, found a cult following, largely due to its controlled and understated portrayal.