Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee — And His American Dream. Well Almost.
There are so many Indians who have achieved their American dream, but if one asks — who is the one who broke into a subculture, created a genre, made millions, and led such an interesting life it is stranger than the best of the fiction, who that will be?
Looks like that is Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee, who has suddenly jumped into our mind space with the release of Welcome to Chippendales in Disney Hotstar.
Who is this Soumen Banerjee? A Bong name for sure, but we don’t identify Bengalis with business — do we? But then someone, who seems to have made it big, in the US, almost five decades back, and that too in erotic dance with women as patrons?
Soumen was born in 1946 in Bombay. His father was a printer, and ambitious Soumen landed in the USA. After trying small jobs, he became an entrepreneur running gas stations, clubs, and even nightclubs. But nothing worked till he hit upon the idea of male stripper entertainment, targeting the women who were keen to break all the taboos. Thus Chippendales, which takes its name from a furniture brand, came into being in 1979. The offerings — hunks stripping in front of the live audience, but never to the birthday suits (and thus scratching but breaking the law).
And it was a success beyond imagination. And with that came partners like Pauk Snider (who later gained infamy by killing his playmate wife Dorothy Stratten), and Nick De Noia (a choreographer per excellence, who went on to win two Emmy awards. Check this, Hugh Hefner of The Playboy joined the board.
But with fame and money came troubles, particularly with Nick De Noia who became the face of the company (much to the chagrin of Somen, now Steve), as well as minting money through roadshows on which Nick had exclusive rights.
And then Somen, the man who waved dollars to his toddle daughter so that the first word she says is money, hired hitmen to bump off Nick. And then followed up with similar conspiracies for his competitors — but the FBI got the wind and busted him. But the murder and the conspiracies are just one part of Steve’s ruthless journey, he planned and executed many arsons to get rid of his rival clubs.
Steve owned all his crime in a plea bargain of 26 years in prison but never could reconcile to it. A day before the sentencing, he committed suicide. It was 1994, he was just 48.
What happened to the Chippendales? It moves to Somen’s wife Irene, who too died from cancer in 2001. It changed hands post that.
So here we are. The man who broke into the American dream and created an iconic organization for a subculture lived and died by the sword, though in a sordid way. The family sort of struggled — wife passed away, daughter Lindsay is living a quiet life, while son Christian has taken to the same profession as his father — in a small way.
Chippendales survives, and I understand is doing very well. And so do the stories — for us to be regaled.
And for a Bongs around the world, a character which we hardly knew but will be there to stay, albeit as an example of how to live a dream, and then be crushed under the weight of the same.
