There is much more to Utpal Dutt than Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Golmaal. Hindi moviegoers know this fiercely individualistic actor largely for that role.
But as the Golmaal director Hrishikesh Mukherjee once told me, Utpal Dutt could play anything. “He was not only a great Shakespearean actor in Bangla theatre, he was also immensely popular in Hindi cinema, largely for his comedies. Utpal did five films with me—Guddi, Sabse Bada Sukh, Naram Garam, Rang Birangi, and of course Golmaal, in which his role as the disciplinarian brought the house down.”
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In an unpublished conversation with this writer, Hrishida had spoken very fondly of Utpal Dutt. “He came to Hindi cinema rather late. My loss. I could do only five films with him. If I had my way, I would have done 25. I enjoyed every minute with him.
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He was a learned, entertaining man, as humorous in real life as on screen if he wanted to be. Otherwise, a very serious man who could converse on any subject under the sun. Guddi was my first film with him. He played Jaya’s grandfather and was so refreshingly removed from the way elders are portrayed in our films. They are either crying or coughing all the time. Utpal did neither.”
Then Hrishida let out a secret. “Do you know Utpal was the hero in Amit (Bachchan)’s first film, Saat Hindustani? I wanted to cast him in some of my other films. But the heroes were nervous about being overshadowed.”