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The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Uttam Kumar is the class that the actor had. Truly unparalleled. An icon for hundreds and thousands of movie lovers, spanning across generations in his native Bengal, Uttam, however, had a brief and rather sporadic stint with mainstream Hindi films. A loss, I would say, for the Hindi film industry but interestingly, most of these films had beautiful, memorable music.
Bengal’s king of hearts made his foray into Bombay his ambitious home production, Chhoti Si Mulaqat in 1967. Made under the banner, Our Movies with his brother Tarun Kumar as executive producer, the film was based on Ashapurna Devi’s acclaimed story, Agni Pariksha, and was a remake of the path-breaking film by the same name that had firmly established Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen as a lead romantic pair in 1954. The story adaption for screen was by Pranab Roy, screenplay by Sachin Bhowmick and dialogues by Abrar Alvi. Directed by Alo Sirkar, it had cinematography by Kanai Dey.
Shankar Jaikishan gave some lovely music for this film, setting to tune lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra with Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Suman Kalyanpur and Asha Bhosle giving playback. Not surprisingly, the music was a hit.
Uttam had Vyjayanthimala, a top billed star of the era as his lead star with an impressive supporting cast comprising Shashikala, Rajendra Nath, Tarun Bose with Yogita Bali doing the childhood role of Vyjyanthimala.
Unfortunately, other than home territory, Bengal, the film bombed all over. It was a rude shock. Perhaps had Uttam Kumar had signed a Bombay director, maybe Shakti Samanta, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen or even Pramod Chakravorty, the result may have been different. As a Bengali cinema enthusiast, I am aware of some great movies made by Alo Sirkar, but he was not a name that the Hindi film goer was accustomed to and more so, the design of film making, and execution showed the regional constraints and concepts. The dialogues were well written by the renowned Abrar Alvi. Some critics had said the film needed a Pran to balance it out, but that would have been absurd in a storyline such as Agni Pariksha.
In Calcutta film reviews, Vyjayanthimala was criticized for giving a cold performance. One can imagine an unavoidable comparison with Suchitra Sen’s performance in the original. However, end result was that Uttam sadly did miss out on his chance to become a nation-wide star.
Living in Calcutta during that era it was impossible not to be influenced by the enigma called Uttam Kumar or not to be intrigued by the aura of Uttam-Suchitra on screen pairing. Together they were sheer magic, each out doing the other while creating that immortal cinematic memory.
During early to mid-seventies, I saw Uttam Kumar several times, though I never could speak to him. I still wonder why. Bus route no.8 would drop me at the corner of Lower Circular Road and Lansdowne Road at 5.38 in the morning. I would then walk through the Minto Park to Hungerford street and enter my college, St. Xavier’s, from the rear entrance to be in time for my Bachelors’ classes at 6 am. It is while crossing through the Minto Park that I would spot Uttam Kumar taking a brisk morning walk many a day. After a couple of such chance meetings, he started to show signs of recognition and would flash a soft smile, so would I. Clad in white shorts and a golf shirt with white running shoes and socks and no make up, obviously, he was in his natural best appearance. I always feel, no film of his could truly capture in camera the striking personality he was. He was far more handsome and very good-looking and I feel it is just a shade of him that we got to see on screen.
The two films with Ray
Much earlier, in 1968 one day, a gentleman, Dilip da, who owned a photo shop and studio on Hazra Road (and I can say was a friend and mentor as far as photography went) asked me to accompany him to a film screening. I was in middle school and today it surprises me that my parents gave permission for it. He came home to pick me and met my parents and took me to watch Satyajit Ray’s Chiriakhana (1967). He had told me that the first ever best actor National Award was given to Uttam Kumar for this film. I have watched that film many times now and loved it each time. The award, as I learnt later, was for two of his roles, the other being Anthony Firingee (1967), co-starring Tanuja, an outstanding film with immortal music and songs.
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@YaadeinNayeePuranee
5 окт 2024
