Uttam Kumar is very close to my heart. To be very honest, I have grown up watching his films. Not only watching his film, he is my idol and I used to always tell him Uttam Jethu (uncle)… Uttam Jethu, and he was my guiding light.
I was blessed that I could do a character which was like a younger version of Uttam Kumar in the television series Mahanayak. He was like my mentor. It was a big loss when he suddenly passed away.
Which of his films are your favourites?
Oh, I think I have been watching 80% of his films over and over again. For me, he is an institution, an inspiration, and I think after even so many years… and I am very close to his family also.
Where would you place Uttam Kumar in Bengali cinema?
Till today, after so many years, this man is celebrated as a legend. His birthday, his death anniversary, anybody in the world, the Bengalis, they celebrate and they remember him. I think that’s a very big thing. I mean it really doesn’t happen to too many of us. It happens to very few actors. I think he passed away around forty-five years back, but his aura is all around us.
I believe you were once going to do a film with Uttam Kumar?
Like I said, for me he was like family. I was blessed that I had seen him very closely, and there was a time when he was trying to direct a film with me when I was a teenager. But unfortunately, he left us long back.
You have paid him very rich tributes?
I did basically an event, live event was Mohanayak Ke Shraddhanjali, of course he has always been a Mohanayak, and I was so happy to get all his heroines on stage — from Mala Sinha aunty to Savitri Chatterjee to Supriya Devi, who was alive that time, she was there, Madhabi Mukherjee aunty was there — so all of them, and I dedicated the entire event to him.
So this is a very special day for you?
Yes, 3rd September, everybody celebrates. We all remember his birthday and he is going to be Mohanayak even, I think, after 50 years, even after 100 years. Uttam Kumar is going to be the Mohanayak for us.
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