Uttam Kumar
Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay, known professionally as Uttam Kumar, was an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, composer and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, Kumar dominated Bengali cinema from the 1950s throughout the 1970s, being referred to as "Mahanayak". His accolades include five National Awards and four Filmfare Awards.
In a career spanning over five decades, Kumar worked in 211 films, till his death in 1980. After a few years of acting in plays, he made his film debut in the 1948 film Drishtidan in a supporting role, produced by M. P. Productions. By the early 1950s, he had graduated to lead roles and had his first box office hit with Basu Paribar, following a series of unsuccessful ventures. He first gained popularity with Sharey Chuattor, where he starred opposite his frequent co-star Suchitra Sen. He consistently starred in top-grossing films from the mid-1950s to the 1960s, such as Champadangar Bou, Agni Pariksha, Shap Mochan, Sabar Uparey, Sagarika, Ekti Raat, Harano Sur, Pathey Holo Deri, Indrani, Maya Mriga, Saptapadi, Bipasha, Bhranti Bilash, Deya Neya, Kokhono Megh, as well as some of his most acclaimed performances include Upahar, Raat Bhore, Saheb Bibi Golam, Shyamali, Marutirtha Hinglaj, Bicharak, Abak Prithibi, Kuhak, Khokababur Pratyabartan, Jhinder Bondi, Sesh Anka, Uttarayan, Jatugriha, Nayak, Chowringhee, Chiriyakhana and Antony Firingee. He achieved further superstardom and appreciation in the 1970s, for starring in several successful ventures with different genres, including Nishi Padma, Rajkumari, Bilambita Loy, Dhanyee Meye, Chhadmabeshi, Stree, Mem Saheb, Andha Atit, Bon Palashir Padabali, Amanush, Sanyasi Raja, Agnishwar, Mouchak, Bagh Bondi Khela, Sabyasachi, Ananda Ashram, Bandie, Nishan, Dhanraj Tamang, Brojobuli, Pankhiraj, Dui Prithibi, Ogo Bodhu Shundori and Kalankini Kankabati. Apart from acting, Kumar showed his versatility in another fields, including as a director and screenwriter of films such as Sudhu Ekti Bachhar, Bon Palashir Padabali and Kalankini Kankabati, as a composer in Kal Tumi Aleya and Sabyasachi, and as a singer in Nabajanma.
Kumar was the first recipient of the National Award in the Best Actor category for his work in Antony Firingee and Chiriyakhana. He is the namesake of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar metro station in Tollygunge and the Mahanayak Samman Award given by the Government of West Bengal.
Early life
Uttam Kumar was born as Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay on 3 September 1926 at his maternal home, situated at 51 Ahiritola Street in northern Calcutta, in the Bengal Province of British India. His father was Satkari Chattopadhyay, a Hindu Brahmin from Hooghly district, and his mother was Chapala Devi. Initially he was named "Uttam" by his maternal grandfather, although his mother did not like this name, so the name "Arun" was given. Sripurna Sanyasi, the spiritual master of his maternal family, predicted that the entire country would recognise him by the name "Uttam", seeing his smile.Belonging to an extended middle-class family, Kumar's father was a film projectionist in Metro Cinema. He had two brothers, Barun and Tarun, of which the latter also became an actor. His ancestral home was at 46/A Girish Mukherjee Road in Bhabanipur, where his interest in acting grew by watching the Jatra reharsed and performed by the group Suhreed Samaj, founded by his father and uncle.
Kumar first studied in Chakraberia High School, where his first acting opportunity came at the age of five in the Gayasur play, which awarded him a medal, in the child role of Gayasur. In 1936, he found a theatre group called Lunar Club, along with his friends, whose first production was Rabindranath Tagore's Mukut. It turned out to become a huge success, that the artists were offered a room for their rehearsals at a neighbour's home. His father selected him to play the role of Balarama in Suhreed Samaj's stage production Brajer Kanai.
In 1940, Kumar moved to South Suburban School, where he passed matriculation with second division in 1942. He joined Government Commercial College for his higher studies in 1943, where he passed B. Com standard, and joined Calcutta Port Trust as a clerk in the cash department, with a monthly salary of. In 1943, Kumar also donated to the fund of Indian National Army, which was earned from a special stage production of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Anandamath by Lunar Club.
Kumar took classical music training from Nidanbandhu Banerjee in his childhood. An admirer of Johnny Weissmuller, he was the champion of hundred yards Freestyle at Bhabanipur Swimming Association for three consecutive seasons. He also learned yoga, wrestling and Lathi Khela, a traditional Bengali martial art. As a skilled footballer, Kumar used to play in the right-back position and was a lifelong Mohun Bagan supporter. At the same time, he was equally interested in playing volleyball and cricket.
Career
Early career (1947–1951)
Kumar entered the film industry in 1947, appearing as an extra in the Hindi film Maya Dore. Although he acted for five days at Bharatlaxmi Studios for a fee of, the film remained unreleased. His first acting role in a film was in the younger role of the central character played by Asit Baran in Drishtidan '', directed by Nitin Bose; this film was under his birth name Arun Kumar Chattophadyay. The next year in 1949, he appeared for the first time as the hero in the film Kamona, changing his name again to "Uttam Chatterjee". Later he changed his name again to "Arup Kumar" with the 1950 film Maryada, where he first got the opportunity to lip-sync to a song. In 1951, Kumar joined M. P. Productions as a staff artist. The same year, he starred in Agradoot's Sahajatri. It was the first film in which he used the name "Uttam Kumar", at the advice of Pahari Sanyal. In this film, he met singer-songwriter Hemanta Mukherjee, lip-syncing over whose voice later went on to gain his popularity.By the age of 26, following by his appearances in a series of unsuccessful films, such as Ore Jatri, Nastaneer and Sanjibani'', Kumar was derogatorily nicknamed "Flop Master General". He was hugely disappointed and decided to leave the film industry. By this time, Kumar continued working at the Port Trust simultaneously.
Initial success and breakthrough (1952–1954)
In 1952, Kumar was then discovered by director Nirmal Dey, who cast him in one of the lead roles in M. P. Production's Basu Paribar, where he starred opposite Supriya Devi, one of his later frequent co-stars, for the first time. Dey "saw his talent, which most makers didn't. He was exceptional, a genius actor who was in films that weren't good." However, Basu Paribar was a box-office success and one of the highest-grossing films of that year, breaking Kumar's dry spell at the box office and making him a star. Following its success, he resigned from his job at the Port Commissions, and joined the film industry in a complete manner. His another release in that year was Kar Paape, a social problem film addressing the matters of syphilis, a sharp contrast to the romantically themed films that had generally preceded it. However, it initially bombed at the box-office because of its A-certified storyline, Kar Paape later got recognition for its groundbreaking theme.In 1953, Kumar collaborated with Dey for the second time in Sharey Chuattor, a multistarrer comedy which was his first time appearance with Suchitra Sen. It became a trend-setter by running for over 63 weeks in single-screens and emerged as the highest-grossing Bengali film of the year. Sharey Chuattor also created a history for being the first film to be screened at Paradise cinema hall, a theatre of Kolkata where mostly Hindi films were used to be shown throughout a year. The Times of India ranks the film in their list of Bengali cinema's all-time greatest comedy films. The same year, Kumar played Uday in Bou Thakuranir Haat, based on Rabindranath Tagore's 1883 novel of the same name. The flow of successes continued for Kumar in 1954. He began the year with Moner Mayur and Ora Thake Odhare, both of which ended up as moderate commercial successes. After this, he starred in Nirmal Dey's drama film Champadangar Bou, a box-office success. His another films in this year included Maraner Pare, Sadanander Mela and the National Award winning Annapurnar Mandir. Kumar's first breakthrough role came with Agradoot's musical romance Agni Pariksha; it coincidentally released on Kumar's 27th birthday, giving birth to a new image of him, that of a "romantic hero". The film opened to excellent response, eventually taking top spot at the box office that year and emerging an All Time Blockbuster as well as Kumar's biggest up to that point of time. Kumar's performance in the film is considered as one of the most iconic performances in Tollywood history.
Agni Pariksha had a special contribution in terms of promotion in the history of Bengali cinema. M. P. Productions used the signatures of both Kumar and Sen on the poster of film as the main attraction under the tagline "Witness of Our Real Love". It created speculation as Kumar's wife Gauri Devi and Sen's husband Dibanath Sen did not take the caption in well. However, his on-screen chemistry with Sen in the film gained huge popularity, which later went on to be named the "Uttam-Suchitra magic". It was the first of many collaborations between Agradoot and Kumar; the team wrote many of their subsequent scripts and films with Kumar in mind for the lead role, and insisted on him being cast for their later films. By this time, Kumar had developed his distinct, signature style of understated acting of mumbling his dialogues while giving myriad expressions and meanings to lines that his characters uttered.