It’s been years since he breathed his last, leaving lakhs of his fans crestfallen. Yet the enchanting appeal of late Matinee Idol Uttam Kumar still reverberates.
It was on this day in 1980 that Uttam Kumar passed away much to the utter shock and dismay of his die-hard admirers and the film fraternity.
The Bengali film industry was in a state of trauma. And justifiable so – What next? Who is going to steer the ship now?
Yes, Uttam Kumar is irreplaceable. Let’s put it straight at the very outset that he still remains the only CREDIBLE Bengali Mahanayak till date.
A plethora of stars emerged on the scene even when Uttam Kumar was active on the set and after his demise, but none could replicate the unbridled frenzy which the superstar was adept at.
The contagious charm he exuded both on and off the screen is yet to be paralleled.
It is so easy to use a strong PR machinery and hoist your own star status to match a legendary thespian’s invincibility, but that only comes a cropper at the end of the day.
Self-sobriquetion bites the dust – class cannot be dumped on the back burner. Reality dictates pragmatism.
Uttam Kumar’s relevance is immortal in the hearts of even the newest generation, which swears by the indelible imprint he has left on us.
The new-age actors do have the luxury of working with ‘versatile and visionary’ filmmakers who can churn out a variety of scripts with utmost ease.
Well, that is what the general viewpoint is, if you go by the ubiquitous hype engineered by a media reluctant to be candid and valorous out of fear of incurring one’s wrath.
Yes, this eventually leaves the audience spoilt for choice in terms of content with substance, but isn’t that larger-than-life presence elusive?
Probably the reason why we have had powerful actors post-July 24, 1980, but not a Mahanayak in the true sense of the term.
No wonder Amitabh Bachchan had to watch Uttam Kumar’s Aami Shey O Shokha umpteen times to get into the skin of the character in its remake Bemisaal.
A modern-day director Srijit Mukherji’s ecstasy knew no bounds when his tribute to the legend Oti Uttam saw the light of the day.
Uttam Kumar was the first and only choice of Satyajit Ray‘s Nayak, which turned out to be one of the actor’s most talked-about films.
Ray was adamant that it would only be Uttam Kumar and nobody else, despite a beeline of stars queuing up at his door to bag the plum project.
No, not even Ray’s favourite Soumitra Chatterjee. The character of a superstar demanded a face behoving a star of that level and who else but Uttam Kumar?
His tryst with Hindi films may not have been a success story (by his standards) but even his staunchest critics would acknowledge the mark he left with movies like Kitaab and Amanush to mention a few.
Even the Showman Raj Kapoor wanted to have him on board for so many of his ventures, including Sangam, but Uttam Kumar politely said no.
Fast forward to 2025. Does any regional actor have the temerity to decline lead roles in movies of such stature?
Well, we seem to be content being sidekicks in so-called exaggerated pan-Indian Magnum Opuses, aren’t we?
Now, did you also know that Hrishikeh Mukherjee’s Anand was penned with Uttam Kumar and Kapoor as the pivotal characters?
Even the posters of the bilingual (Hindi amd Bengali) were designed, but somehow the casting never fructified.
Uttam Kumar had makers in Mumbai zealous to sign him on, but the former always lent precedence to Bengali movies.
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And this is why Uttam Kumar is immortal – perhaps one of the very few who personifies the notion – ‘Superlative brillance with the craft blended with peerless stardom.’
No guys, we worship only one Mahanayak! Game over….
Is SOMEBODY all ears?
