‘He was an enormous star, but sincere’: Aparna Sen on Uttam Kumar

Uttam Kumar is now not simply an emotion for Bengalis. Within the 12 months of the matinee idol’s delivery centenary, it’s time to say it out loud. He has develop into a part of the Bengali psyche and fantasy. He could not have had a towering physique, however he possessed a billion-watt smile and an performing calibre that was really world.

Veteran actress Aparna Sen, who shared display screen area with the legendary actor in a number of movies, lately recalled an incident from a movie set that exposed a aspect of Uttam Kumar few might need identified. She has at all times addressed him as Uttam Babu. On the time, he was on the peak of his profession within the Seventies and was taking his time to memorise his dialogues. Sen, a fast learner, had already learnt her traces and commenced questioning why her co-star was taking so lengthy. Regardless of being practically 20 years youthful than him, she mustered the braveness to ask him. “Uttam Babu advised me, ‘I’ve a stutter. If I don’t memorise my dialogues completely, I’d face problem whereas delivering them’,” Sen recalled.

The candid admission left her stunned and shocked. Right here was a matinee idol whose movies might draw audiences away from all the things else, brazenly sharing his vulnerability with a younger actress who was nonetheless discovering her ft. “He was such an enormous star. Audiences left all the things to observe his movies. But, he spoke to me, somebody a lot youthful than him in age and expertise, about his stutter. It confirmed the form of confidence he had as an actor, in addition to his honesty,” Sen mentioned. The actress-filmmaker was talking at a particular speak present at Kolkata Centre for Creativity, the place the exhibition ‘Uttam Kumar at 100: The Making of Bengal’s Everlasting Star’ is on view till October 11. The exhibition showcases an in depth journey of his life as an actor and the way he emerged because the cultural icon of Bengal.

Sen’s first Bengali movie with Uttam Kumar was Salil Dutta’s ‘Aparichita’ (1969), based mostly on Samaresh Basu’s novel of the identical title. The movie additionally featured Soumitra Chatterjee. But, Sen’s first impressions of mainstream Bengali cinema had been removed from beneficial. The daughter of veteran movie historian Chidananda Das Gupta, who co-founded the Calcutta Movie Society with Satyajit Ray in 1947, grew up watching worldwide cinema. Bengali movies, significantly mainstream productions of the Nineteen Sixties, weren’t inspired at residence. Her first publicity to Bengali cinema got here by means of Ray’s cult basic ‘Pather Panchali’.

“I wasn’t permitted to observe Bengali cinema. I had a selected pal who would narrate the tales of movies in nice element and each lady at school would hearken to her with rapt consideration, particularly when she spoke about movies starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. I at all times felt disadvantaged. Because of this, I developed a somewhat snobbish angle in direction of mainstream Bengali cinema,” she recalled. That notion, nevertheless, started to crumble when she labored with Uttam Kumar in ‘Aparichita’. Her first scene with him proved to be a revelation.

“I bear in mind a scene with Uttam Babu coming into the room, swinging a key ring in his hand and me. He regarded extraordinarily match and good-looking. Abruptly, he turned in direction of me and the swinging of the keys stopped. I used to be utterly taken in by his aura. That was after I realised I had been mistaken about him,” Sen mentioned. Later, Sen labored with the matinee idol in movies like ‘Mem Saheb’, ‘Ekhane Pinjar’, ‘Rater Rajanigandha’, ‘Kaya Hiner Kahini’, ‘Nidhi Ram Sardar’, ‘Alor Thikana’, ‘Kalankita Nayak’, ‘Jadu Bangsha’ and ‘Jay Jayanti’.

Working alongside Uttam Kumar additionally provided Sen helpful classes in performing. She recalled how receptive he was to new concepts and the way significantly he thought-about recommendations from his co-actors. “He was at all times open to improvisation. I noticed him take my recommendations significantly and assume them over. He was additionally extraordinarily match. In ‘Kaya Hiner Kahini’, there was a scene by which he needed to elevate me. Earlier than the shot, he advised me he would do a fireman’s elevate. I had no concept what that meant, however he requested me to belief him. He lifted me with ease,” she mentioned.

Uttam Kumar maintained a disciplined health routine, exercising often and swimming. He was well-read and watched an excessive amount of cinema. Amongst his many performances, Sen significantly admired him in ‘Champadangar Bou’ and ‘Marutirtha Hinglaj’. “He had the appeal of the boy subsequent door, which is uncommon. Moms wished him to be their son, ladies have been drawn to him and males wished to be like him. He grew to become virtually like a member of the household for Bengali audiences,” she mentioned.