Jai Chole Jai , the immortal Hemanta Mukherjee number lipped by Uttam Kumar, still enthrals countless listeners. This song from the super hit Kaal Tumi Aleya was tuned by Uttam Kumar himself. Bengal’s Mahanayak was not only a versatile actor, he was a competent singer, composer, producer and director too. After Pramthesh Barua post-independent Bengali cinema’s icon was Uttam Kumar in the true sense of the term.
Gifted with an excellent screen presence, a divine smile and a deep resonant voice, Uttam Kumar was virtually a one man industry. Struggling hard for eight years, suffering a lot of humiliation and getting rejected initially, Uttam Kumar never lost hope. He worked hard on his body language, put in special efforts to improve his stammering whilst speaking. His dedication and commitment to acting got him his much deserved success with Sare Chuattar , a rollicking family comedy in the middle ’50s.
Pramathesh Barua was his idol. Uttam Kumar learnt finer aspects of performing from Chabi Biswas and Pahari Sanyal . Uttam Kumar’s pairing with Suchitra Sen in almost 30 films made them Bengali cinema most romantic pair. He was equally at ease with Arundhuti Devi, Sabitri Chatterjee, Supriya Chowdhury, Madhabi Mukherjee and Tanuja.
Leading directors like Agradut, Agragami, Ajoy Kar and Asit Sen worked wonders with Uttam Kumar on screen. Tapan Sinha and Satyajit Ray extracted the best from him. Uttam Kumar shared space on the silver screen brilliantly with Bikash Roy, Bhanu Banerjee, Jahar Ganguly and his own brother Tarun Kumar.
In Jeeban Trishna Uttam Kumar faltered with one line during a shot. His co-actor Bikash Roy requested Uttam Kumar to follow one modulation lowering his voice. Paying due respect to the talented Roy, Uttam Kumar did exactly as told. Writer-director Asit Sen canned the crucial shot in one take. Similarly replying to Dhritiman Chatterjee’s hard hitting lines in Jadubansha , Uttam Kumar conveyed his displeasure in five words and two modulations. Uttam Kumar overshadowed him.
Though Hemanta Mukherjee was his ghost voice, Manna Dey lipped many memorable numbers for Uttam Kumar. When Shyamal Mitra was to sing for the legend in Deoa Neoa, many eyebrows were raised. Uttam Kumar conducted umpteen rehearsals with Shyamal Mitra before lip syncing to the songs. As Uttam Kumar lipped Gane Bhuvan Bhorie Debe , he had tears in his eyes. So superb was the effect.
The only time Satyajit Ray penned a script keeping a big star in mind it was Nayak in 1966. Uttam Kumar was Ray’s inspiration for it. He gave his finest performance in and as Nayak . As Byomkesh Bakshi, Uttam Kumar came out with flying colours in Ray’s Chidiakhana .
Uttam Kumar shifted to mature, substantial characters in the 70s proving his worth in emotions, romance, comedy as well as anti-hero roles. He was the most versatile artiste of his times. Thirty five years after his sad demise he remains irreplaceable.
