The on-screen chemistry between Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen has always been much adored and admired.They looked like really beautiful couples. Some of Uttam's famous films co-starring Suchitra Sen include "Share Chuattor", "Agni Pariksha", "Shilpi", Saptapadi (Seven Steps), Pathe Holo Deri (Delay on the road), Harano Sur (Lost Music), Chaowa Paowa (Wish and Achievement), Bipasha, Jiban Trishna (Thirst for Life), Sagarika, Trijama, Indrani, Sabar Upare, Surjyo Toron, Rajlakshmi O Sreekanto, "Ekti Raat", "Grihadaha", Kamallata, Har Mana Har, Alo Amar Alo.
Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen became pair in Sharey Chuattor, a film by Nirmal Dey. It was a box-office hit and remembered for launching Uttam-Suchitra as a leading pair. They went on to become the icons for Bengali dramas for more than 20 years, becoming almost a genre to themselves.
Uttam Kumar (3 September 1926 - 24 July 1980) born as Arun Kumar Chatterjee; was a legendary Bengali actor. He is fondly called the Mahanayak or the "Great Hero" of Bengali cinema. He was born Arun Kumar Chatterjee on 3 September 1926 in Kolkata. He had been an actor, director and producer. Apart from acting in two films with Satyajit Ray, Nayak (The Hero) and Chiriyakhana (The Zoo, a thriller written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, in which he played the famous Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi), he has acted in some Hindi films like "Chhoti si Mulaqat" (with Vyjayantimala Bali), "Amanush" (with Sharmila Tagore), "Ananda Ashram" (with Sharmila Tagore), "Kitaab" and "Dooriyan". (Source: in.com)
 |
| photo credit: upperstall.com |
Suchitra Sen or Rama Dasgupta (born 6 April 1931) is an Indian actress who acted in several Bengali films. In particular, the movies in which she paired opposite another legend in Bengali films, Uttam Kumar, became classics in the history of Bengali cinema. She now lives a life of a recluse rarely making any public appearances. When she left movies, she was slowly but steadily losing the position of leading lady of Bengali silver screen.
She is the first Bengali actress to be awarded in an international film festival (Best Actress award for Saat Paake Bandha in the 1963 Moscow film festival). Notably, she allegedly refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005, preferring to live in seclusion out of the public eye.
In 2012, Sen was conferred with West Bengal government`s highest award Banga Bibhushan.
 |
Uttam's first release was Drishtidan directed by Nitin Bose. He came into prominence in the film Basu Paribar and his breakthrough film was Agni Pariksha that began the roaring success of the all-time romantic pair of Uttam Kumar - Suchitra Sen; though they had first starred in Sharey Chuattor (ted mass migration from the then East Pakistan to Kolkata (then known as Calcutta), the Uttam-Suchitra pair gave expression to the yearnings of a new, transformed city. They played out on screen the new desires of a young audience trying to come to terms with industrial modernity and a new form of urban existence.
 |
The stylized, black-and-white romanticism of landmark Uttam-Suchitra films of the 1950s like "Agni Pariksha", "Shapmochan",Sagarika (1956), Shilpi (1956), or Harano Sur, Indrani, Sabar Uparey, Surjyo Toron reflected a novel, youthful urban desire to break free from the confines of the feudal joint family and set up a nucleated, private space for the couple in love.
 |
Suchitra Sen received a Best Actress Award for the film Devdas (1955), which was her first Hindi movie. One of Suchitra's best known performances was in Deep Jwele Jaai (1959). The film is full of beautiful, often partly lit, close ups of Sen which set the tone of the film and is aided by a mesmerizing performance by her. Asit Sen remade the film in Hindi as Khamoshi. Suchitra's other landmark film with Asit Sen was Uttar Falguni (1963). Her international success came in the year of 1963, when she won the best actress award in Moscow Film Festival for the movie Saat Paake Bandha. In fact, she is the first female to receive an international film award. She refused Satyajit Ray's offer due to date problem; as a result Ray never made the film Devi Chaudhurani.
She retired from the screen in 1978 after a career of over 25 years to a life of quiet seclusion. She has avoided the public gaze after her retirement and has devoted her time to the Ramakrishna Mission. Suchitra Sen was a contender for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2005, provided she was ready to accept it in person. Her refusal to go to New Delhi and personally receive the award from the President of India deprived her of that award.
No comments:
Post a Comment