A century after his birth, Bengal is preparing an elaborate year of tributes to Uttam Kumar, the legendary actor whose popularity extended far beyond Bengali cinema. Exhibitions, discussions, a heritage walk and a new film centre are among the plans to mark the milestone.

A century after his birth, Bengal is preparing an elaborate year of tributes to Uttam Kumar, the legendary actor whose popularity extended far beyond Bengali cinema. Exhibitions, discussions, a heritage walk and a new film centre are among the plans to mark the milestone.

A century after his birth, Bengal is preparing an elaborate year of tributes to Uttam Kumar, the legendary actor whose popularity extended far beyond Bengali cinema. Exhibitions, discussions, a heritage walk and a new film centre are among the plans to mark the milestone.

A hundred years after he was born, Uttam Kumar is about to take the centre stage in West Bengal all over again.

On Thursday, a meeting at Nandan, Kolkata's cultural hub, brought together West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, National Award-winning actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, and members of the Bengali film fraternity to discuss plans for the actor’s birth centenary.

The focus was not simply on marking the occasion, but also on creating a lasting legacy around Uttam Kumar and his contribution to Bengali cinema.

The celebrations will begin on September 3—Uttam Kumar’s 100th birth anniversary. A special cultural programme will honour the actor, along with distinguished personalities associated with Bengali cinema. Nandan, Kolkata’s cultural complex and an important centre for Bengali cinema, will host an exhibition featuring rare photographs, film posters, memorabilia and other material from Uttam Kumar’s career.

Film scholars, researchers, artists and critics will also come together for a discussion on the actor’s life and work. A heritage walk is planned around places associated with Uttam Kumar, offering audiences a chance to revisit the Kolkata in which he lived, worked and became a star.

The centenary plans will extend beyond the celebrations themselves. The state has proposed a new Uttam Kumar Birth Centenary Film Centre in New Town, with modern facilities for film and cultural activities. Uttam Mancha in South Kolkata, the auditorium already named after him, is also set to be renovated and modernised.

The Department of Posts will mark the occasion with a special commemorative cover and a book dedicated to Uttam Kumar.

The celebrations will also continue into December, when the 32nd Kolkata International Film Festival takes place from December 16-23. This festival will offer another opportunity to revisit Uttam Kumar’s work and introduce his films to a younger audience.

For Bengal, Uttam Kumar remains inseparable from the golden era of Bengali cinema. His celebrated partnership with Suchitra Sen produced some of the industry’s most enduring films, but his career was not limited to romantic roles. He moved comfortably between genres and characters, displaying a range that established him as a serious actor, as well as a hugely popular star.

His appeal was rooted in Bengal, but it did not stop there. Uttam Kumar became one of Indian cinema’s most recognisable actors, with performances that continue to attract viewers decades after his death in 1980.

At 100, the celebrations are therefore about more than nostalgia. They offer an opportunity to revisit the work of an actor who shaped an important chapter of Indian cinema, and to ensure that audiences who were born long after his death get to know the man behind the legend.