Chatterjee, who almost missed the programme owing to a dates mix up, was talking at the launch of the book at an outlet of Kolkata’s books and lifestyle chain Starmark.

Lily Chakraborty, who began her film career in 1958 with the Bengali comedy Bhanu Pelo Lottery and later came into limelight with films like the 1963 Bengali rom-com Deya Neya (with Uttam Kumar, Tanuja and Tarun Kumar), is still grabbing the headlines with her acting, holding her own against much younger actors.

She shared the Best Supporting Actress award (for her role in the film Sanjhbati) with Sudiptaa Chakraborty (who won it for her role in Jyesthoputro) at the recently concluded West Bengal Film Journalist Association Award 2020.

The book is a look back by Lily Chakraborty, aged 79, at her own life, the high and the low, at her career as an actress both on stage and in the cinemas, the people she has acted with, etc.

“All actors I have worked with were great - the younger generation or the older generation, like Uttam Kumar - both generations were a joy to work with,” said Chakraborty, who also had a successful stage career and had won hearts with the 1980s commercial stage production Bilkish Begum.

She has worked alongside some all-time greats of celluloid, including Uttam Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Soumitra Chatterjee, while in Bollywood she acted opposite heroes like Vinod Khanna (playing his wife in the 1973 film Achanak) besides in films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Some of the popular films that she has acted in Bengali and Hindi include Deya Neya (Bengali), Alaap (1977), Inkaar (1977), Chupke Chupke (1975), Amritakumbher Sandhane (1982), Chokher Bali (2003), Rajkahini (2015),   Jana Aranya (1976) and Posto (2016).

The book published by Saptarshi Prakashan has been edited by Dipankar Bhattacharya and Arnoy Deb Roy.

(Reporting by Nitin Waghela)