Kolkata: While retrospective conversations surrounding his birth centenary frequently label Uttam Kumar as a romantic matinee idol, such views often overlook the actor’s willingness to embrace dark, complex and non-conformist roles that challenged his standard ‘bhadralok’ screen image. To explore this uncharted territory with fresh academic scope, a discussion was held at Sisir Mancha on Saturday, featuring Biswajit Chatterjee, Ranjit Mullick, Rudranil Ghosh, Saswata Chattopadhyay, Kharaj Mukherjee, Kushal Mukherjee, Ritwik Chakraborty and Anjan Dutta.The talks gave Gen Z the cues to appreciate the Mahanayak’s mastery in anchoring psychological dramas, such as ‘Nayak’, gritty thrillers, like ‘Thana Theke Aschi’, and tragedies, like ‘Chowringhee’. “Uttam Kumar has rarely been the subject of in-depth discussions, his immense popularity may have fostered a sense of professional envy that kept such conversations at bay,” Rudranil said. “The sheer magnitude of his stardom often overshadowed his willingness to experiment with his craft. On his birth centenary, we finally found the right avenue to explore that dimension.”Director Atanu Ghosh, who moderated the panel, told TOI he often used Uttam Kumar’s clips at acting workshops. “Many of my students have had no prior engagement with Uttam Kumar’s films. But their responses are truly eye-opening. I remember their reactions to a scene in ‘Chowringhee’, where he is simply waving at someone. It begins quite casually, but then there is a pause in the wave, followed by a fleeting smile on his lips. That tiny shift opens the moment up to layered interpretations,” Atanu said. Another clip he referred to is from ‘Jiban Jignasa’. “It is a solitary seven-second walk through a hospital corridor, without a single word, evokes such radical interpretations that it almost reveals the story’s final denouement to those who have not even seen the film,” he said.Such analysis set the ball rolling for discussions beyond Sisir Mancha. Actor Satrajit Sarkar, known for his powerhouse acting in ‘Once Upon a Time in Kolkata’ and ‘Winkle Twinkle’, said, “Uttam Kumar was a master of what we today call behavioural acting. He memorised his lines, yet no effort showed on screen. His dialogue delivery was entirely organic, and he was equally brilliant in non-verbal scenes. I am still haunted by his performance in the 1975 film ‘Agniswar’,” Sarkar said. He called a scene from ‘Agniswar’ a “masterclass in Uttam Kumar’s restrained, matured acting, free from loud melodrama”. “Instead of crying over the departure of Suchhanda’s character, all he uses is a facial twitch and a heavy sigh. The slight tremble of his hands and his empty gaze as he scatters the torn letter create a profound ache in the audience. Conveying a thousand untold words without a single dialogue, this use of eyes and body language defines Uttam Kumar’s signature style and timeless charisma,” Sarkar said.
