'We love them but the moment we hear something about them, we are done.'
Bengal cinema's biggest star in his lifetime, Uttam Kumar made many beautiful movies before he passed away too soon in July 1980.
He worked with Sharmila Tagore in quite a few films like Nayak, Amanush, Sesh Anka and Ananda Ashram.
On his 99th birth anniversary on September 3, Sharmila Tagore remembers Uttam Kumar and tells Subhash K Jha, "The way he walked, the way he lit his cigarette, everything was star-like."
You did a number of films with Uttam Kumar, including Satyajit Ray's Nayak.
Yes, Nayak is the most important film.
But I did some other notable films with Uttambabu including Sesh Anka, where he played the murderer in a whodunnit inspired by Chase A Crooked Shadow.
Later, we did two back-to-back Hindi-Bengali bilinguals directed by Shaktida (Samanta), Amanush and Anand Ashram.
I don't think he was very comfortable doing Hindi films.
For Uttam Kumar, Nayak was the first film with Satyajit Ray but you worked with Mr. Ray many times.
Of course, I ranked Debi, Apur Sansar and Aranyer Din Ratre above Nayak.
But after seeing it again, I've changed my mind.
Uttambabu is so, so good. Even I was quite good.
Manikda (Satyajit Ray) suggested I wear spectacles.
To give you an intellectual look.
But he just changes the character a little bit, you know, the look of the character.
There was criticism that Mr. Ray used a star like Uttam Kumar.
But you know, there was instant recognition. Instant identification.
So he didn't have to establish the character.
And the way he walked, the way he lit his cigarette, everything was star-like.
Uttam Kumar was a smoker in real life too, I believe.
Yes. It's a beautiful film and I'm so happy that another generation will see it.
Ray brings many characters from all over the place in a kind of a limited space, like a train.
And we glimpse everybody's life.
It's a moment in their life and then everyone just disperses.
Also, the loneliness of the superstar. I think this was the first time we saw that.
He elaborates that what we perceive stars as, perhaps they're not.
Stars are also flesh and blood and have feelings and have their own history.
But we judge them so quickly.
We are so flippant about them.
We call them arrogant.
We love them but the moment we hear something about them, we are done.
Or during an unguarded moment, if a star snubs you unknowingly, you hate the star further.
It's a very fragile respect you have for a star.
In Nayak, he finds somebody to talk to, who would sort of understand him, and he opens up to her, my character Aditi.
There's a fleeting moment where you meet somebody and there is a connection.
Once the train stops, everybody disembarks. But for that moment, during that train journey in Nayak, you become a part of that world.
© 2025