The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Uttam Kumar, a legendary and the most celebrated Bengali actor of Bengali cinema industry, even 28 years after his death (24th July, 1980), still remains a full-screen projection. Millions of his fans and admirers still throng around theatres where Uttam-Suchitra films sprint, filled to capacity. Such is the timeless thump of the duo.

He is warmheartedly called the Mahanayak or the "Great Hero" of Bengali cinema. His original name was Arun Kumar Chatterjee. He was born on 3 September 1926 at Ahiritola, North Kolkata but was called 'Uttam' by his maternal grandmother. His huge joint family had its own theatre group Suhrid Samaj which staged many amateur shows within the community.

No wonder then, Uttam Kumar was bitten by the acting bug right from childhood itself. Besides acting, he was also into sports and physical fitness. He took up wrestling, swimming, lathi-khela (sparring with wooden sticks), horse riding and tennis. In fact he was the swimming champion at the Bhowanipur Swimming Association three years in a row.

After graduation, the financial condition of the family forced him to take up employment as a clerk at the Port Commissioner's office. To supplement his salary, he also gave singing lessons at a music school. He joined as a cashier in Port Commissioners' Office at Kidderpore in 1944 and as a music teacher in Chakraberia High School. During this period, he acted for amateur theater groups. Initially Uttam Kumar followed the Kolkata theatre scene avidly but soon became dissatisfied with the existing trend of theatrical acting and always aimed for a more natural performance in his films. But his heart, mind and soul was running at only on one place-Tollygunge Studio. At last he got chance as an extra but he first acted in the film "Mayador" which failed to release. Uttam's first released film was Drishtidan (The gift of sight) directed by Nitin Bose. However his breakthrough film 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 Bengali film industry. Uttam-Suchitra has ever since been a household name.

The great Ray was much impressed by Uttan's inherent quality of acting and innovative skill, he started writing his screenplay Nayak (The Hero) after the image of Uttam Kumar, the infallible 'matinee idol' of Bengal cinema.

Andrew Robinson, the author of Satyajit Ray, The Inner Eye, writes: "Although Uttam Kumar was in Ray's mind when he set off for Darjeeling off-season in May to write Nayak (The Hero), he was thinking of him more as a phenomenon than an individual. Uttam had no hand in formation of the character he was to play, and Ray to this day is surprisingly ignorant of Uttam's life". It should be mentioned Ray's Nayak (1965) is nearly the biographical film of Uttam Kumar's own life and fame, his rise and stasis, success and failures.

Said Tapan Sinha, the noted director, in his memoir: "You don't have to guide him much to absorb the given character. He was a true follower of the script and stuck to the disciplined margin, whether to cross it or remain within it. He was a genius though to survive he had to make may films which did not appeal to him as an actor/person".

It is interesting to note what Satyajit Ray said about Uttam's intellect: "I never bothered to explain the character to him (Uttam Kumar). So I never discovered whether he really understood the implication of the part. And it doe's not really matter whether he did or did not. There were a lot of things he did understand because they probably corresponded to his own life and his own experience. He was not very articulate as a person, actually. Perhaps he was conscious of the fact that he would not be able to talk at the same level as us, so he kept quiet. Some people who are stupid would come out with all sorts of stupid things. So I did not discuss the psychology of the part at all. I merely told him that this is what you have to do. Trust me and it should be all right".

A strict workaholic, he was rumored to have said that his preferred demise would be on the floor of a studio, doing what he loved best, acting. Indeed, that is exactly how he died. While filming the Bengali film Ogo Bodhu Shundori 24th July, 1980, he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 54.

Satyajeet Ray articulated the following as a tribute to this Mahanayak;"It is the demise of a leading light of the Bengali film industry…There isn't - there won't be another hero like him."