Uttam Kumar

3 September 1926 - 24 July 1980

A Bengali legendary actor, he is fondly refered to as মহানায়ক (Mahanayak - The Great Hero). His debut film মায়াডোর (Mayador) did not see the light of the day. In 1948, his first released film, দৃষ্টিদান (Dristidan - Director: Nitin Bose) launched his career. He came into prominence in 1952 with his hit বসু পরিবার (Bosu Paribar - Director: Nirmal Dey) which also introduced Sabitri Chatterjee and Supriya Choudhury. He became a household name with সাড়ে চুয়াত্তর (Sarhe Chuattor - Director: Nirmal Dey) opposite Suchitra Sen which launched the greatest romantic duo of Bengali Cinema.

Uttam Kumar (born Arun Mukherjee) was the eldest of three brothers. His yongest brother, Tarun was a very prominent character actor both on screen as well as on stage.

Uttam Kumar acted in over 200 films, most of them Bengali. He was cast by Satyjit Ray in two of his films নায়ক (Nayak) and চিড়িয়াখানা (Chidiyakhana). He was a trained singer and scored the music for two films কাল তুমি আলেয়া (Kaal Tumi Aleya) and সব্যসাচী (Sabysachi). He also directed three films, most noteworthy, বনপলাশির পদাবলী (Bonpolasir Padabali, Story: Ramapada Choudhury). Bonpolasir Padabali was a fundraiser for Shilpi Sangsad (an organization for the welfare of performing artists and technicians) and most involved with the film, including Uttam Kumar as the director and the lead actor, worked pro bono publico.

Uttam Kumar has a phenomenal fan base and television re-runs of his films still draw a large audience. It is not an understatement to say that even 28 years after his death, the Bengali film industry misses him dearly. He died of a massive heart-attack on the sets of a film he was shooting. Satyajit Ray, paying his tribute summed it the best - "It is the demise of a leading light of the Bengali film industry…There isn't - there won't be another hero like him."

More on Uttam Kumar

	Profile as published in Wikipedia
	Flimography
	IMDB (Check this out for his films' cast and credit)