Actors - Uttam Kumar

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	Actors - Uttam Kumar

Uttam Kumar (Bangla: উত্তম কুমার ) was a famous Bengali actor. He is fondly called the Mahanayak or the "Great Hero" of Bengali Cinema. He was born as Arun Kumar Chatterjee in 1926 in Kolkata. He died on 24 July, 1980. He had been an actor, director and producer. Apart from acting in two films with Satyajit Ray, Nayak (The Hero) and Chiriyakhana
(The Zoo, a thriller written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, in which he played the famous Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi), he has acted in some Hindi films like "Chhoti si Mulakat" (with Vaijayantimala), "Amanush" (with Sharmila Tagore), "Ananda Ashram" (with Sharmila Tagore), "Kitaab" and "Dooriyan".

Early life

Uttam Kumar was born on September 3, 1926 in Kolkata. After his schooling in South Suburban School, he went for higher studies in Goyenka College. However, he couldn't complete his studies as he started working at the Kolkata Port as a clerk. During this time, he acted for ametuer theater groups.

Film debut

Uttam's first released film was Drishtidan (The gift of sight) directed by Nitin Bose, though he worked in an earlier unreleased film called Mayador (Embrace of affection). His breakthrough film, though was Sare Chuyattor (74 and a half) with a young actress called Suchitra Sen. This romantic comedy launched the career of the greatest romantic duo to grace the Bangla film industry.

Uttam-Suchitra

Uttam-Suchitra have ever since been a household name. Some of Uttam's famous films co-starring, with Suchitra include Soptopodi (Seven Steps),Pothe Holo Deri (Delay on the road), Harano Sur (Lost Music), Chaowa-Paowa (Wish and Achievement), Jeebon Trishna (Thirst for Life) and Sagorika (Sagorika).

Branching Out

Uttam Kumar tried his hand at the popular Bombay/Hindi film with the oft-criticised box office bomb Chhoti Si Mulakat, a film he produced and starred in, among others that were better received. But his towering contribution was to Bengali Cinema, or Tollygunge. Many of his Bengali films were directed by notable directors or directing groups of the sixties and the seventies, such as Agradut, Agragami, and Yatrik. Arguably, one of his most lauded appearances was in Satyajit Ray's Nayak (film) (The Hero). Rumor goes that Ray wrote the script with Uttam in mind. Later in his career, Uttam branched out into producing and directing much-lauded films such as Bon Palashir Padaboli.

He was rumored to have said that his preferred demise would be on the floor of a studio, doing what he loved best. That is exactly how he died.

Death of a Legend

Uttam Kumar's funeral -- mourned by hundreds of thousands of Bengalis spilling into the streets as a slow-moving procession with his garlanded body moved along the major arteries of Calcutta -- was an elaborate, yet ultimately simple affair. With his passing, Bengal marked the end of an era as Tollygunge (the area in Calcutta where most of the film studios are located) slowly but inexorably transformed itself into Tollywood (marked by a slavish imitation of Bollywood -- the Bombay film industry, given mostly to lighter, more superficial 'vehicles' with the ubiquitous song and dance routines).

As for actors -- to date, and arguably, there has appeared in Tollywood no adequate replacement with comparable star power, box office magnetism, as well as acting acumen.

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