Prior to that, he completed his schooling from Delhi, having stood first in entire North India in the Senior Cambridge Examinations.
Chatterjee played different shades, though mostly as a character actor, as well as in leading roles and at times as an antagonist, despite the limited opportunities he received.
He also acted in the leading role in a tele-serial named Naqab in the national network of Doordarshan.
He is one of the very few selected actors who worked with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar and Mrinal Sen; with the first three directors, he performed with on more than a number of occasions.
His performance in the title role of the film Deshbandhu Chittaranjan [a biopic on Chittaranjan Das] won the appreciation of Basanti Devi, the wife of the "Deshbandhu" (she is said to have personally blessed the actor).