GURU
UTTAM KUMAR AT 100: The Making of Bengal’s Eternal Star
Venue: KCC First Floor, KCC
Date: 18 Sep - 11 Oct, 2026
To commemorate the birth centenary of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar KCC presents an exhibition Guru-Uttam Kumar at 100,Bengal’s most enduring film star, cultural icon and emotional inheritance. The exhibition will examine how Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay became Uttamkumar, how Uttam became “Mahanayak”, and how his screen presence came to dominate Bengali popular imagination across generations. It will not only be a homage, but an enquiry into the mechanics of stardom, performance, memory and cultural dominance. The exhibition will organise around a central timeline, which will serve as both a visitor path and interpretive spine, tracing Uttam Kumar’s transformation across years and decades: early struggle, romantic ascendancy, peak dominance, mature experimentation and posthumous legend.The timeline will mark major films, collaborations, changes in acting style, shifts in costume and visual identity, major co stars, commercial milestones and parallel developments in Bengali and Indian cinema. Hung along this spine will be posters, lobby cards and film booklets, arranged by decades to create a moving archive of his public image.
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A century after his birth, Uttam Kumar remains one of the most enduring figures in Bengali cinema and popular culture. Kolkata Centre for Creativity, in collaboration with the West Bengal Motion Picture Artists' Forum and Kolkata Kathokatha, presents GURU | UTTAM KUMAR AT 100: The Making of Bengal’s Eternal Star, an exhibition curated by Trinankur Banerjee, marking the centenary of the actor whose work and screen presence became part of Bengal’s cultural imagination.
The exhibition traces the journey of Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay to Uttam Kumar, bringing together photographs, archival material, film memorabilia and stories from his life and career. From his early years and struggles in the film industry to his rise as the Mahanayak, it looks at the making of the star while offering a closer view of the actor behind one of Indian cinema’s most enduring screen personas.
Uttam Kumar’s work defined an era of Bengali cinema. He was the first recipient of the National Film Award for Best Actor, and his performance in Satyajit Ray’s Nayak brought his work to international audiences and the world of film festivals.
Guru: Uttam Kumar at 100 brings these chapters of his life and career together, looking beyond the familiar image of the Mahanayak to explore the actor, his work and the legacy that continues to hold a place in the cultural memory of generations and has become an inseparable part of Bengal’s cinematic and emotional history.
Memories of Guru | INAUGURAL TALK
Remembering the man behind the Mahanayak through those who knew and worked with him
Session 1: Ratna Ghoshal | Kalyani Mondal | Sonali Gupta
Moderator: Shibasish Banerjee
Date: 18 September 2026
Time: 6:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Venue: KCC, 1st Floor
Recommended age: 10 years and above
Session 2:
Prosenjit Chatterjee reflects on his family’s association with Uttam Kumar and shares personal memories of the legendary actor, in conversation with Shibasish Banerjee.
Date: 18 September 2026
Time: 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Venue: KCC, 1st Floor
Recommended age: 10 years and above
Bicharak (The Judge), 1959 : Justice is Divine
Date: 8 October 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents an introduction to and screening of বিচারক (The Judge), the 1959 Bengali classic directed by Prabhat Mukhopadhyay, followed by a Q&A session.
The film features a 33-year-old Uttam Kumar in the remarkably mature role of Gyanendranath, a middle-aged judge known for his rectitude and moral gravity. As the narrative unfolds, the principles that have defined his life are tested by an ethical crisis, revealing the conflict between judgement, responsibility and conscience. The film also features Arundhati Devi, Pahari Sanyal, Dipti Roy and Chabbi Biswas in supporting roles. Produced by Arundhati Devi, Bicharak went on to receive the National Award for Best Bengali Film in 1960, with music by Rabindranath Tagore and Timirbaran Bhattacharya.
More than six decades later, the questions at the heart of বিচারক remain compelling. The screening offers an opportunity to revisit one of Uttam Kumar’s striking performances and a film in which moral responsibility takes precedence over the familiar image of the romantic screen icon.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session.
Birth of a Bengali Superstar
Date: 19 September 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents Birth of a Bengali Superstar, a special conversation examining the making of Uttam Kumar and the emergence of one of Bengali cinema’s most enduring cultural icons.
The session brings together filmmaker and actor Aparna Sen, actor and filmmaker Anjan Dutt, and film scholar Prof. Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, moderated by Arunava Khasnobis.
Moving beyond Uttam Kumar’s familiar image as the Mahanayak, the conversation will explore the cinematic and cultural forces that shaped his rise to superstardom. The panel will examine his distinctive screen persona, his unique relationship with early cinema audiences, and how he came to permanently embody the collective aspirations, emotions, and imagination of generations of Bengalis.
Bringing together firsthand industry experiences with deep academic insight, this session offers a rare opportunity to revisit how a flesh-and-blood actor was transformed into an immortal cultural phenomenon.
Speakers
Aparna Sen is a legend of Indian cinema, renowned both as an actor and an award-winning director. After a prolific acting career—frequently starring alongside Uttam Kumar—she transitioned behind the camera to direct masterworks like 36 Chowringhee Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, and Goynar Baksho.
Anjan Dutt is a prominent filmmaker, actor, and singer-songwriter who helped redefine modern Bengali urban culture. He started his career acting under master filmmaker Mrinal Sen before directing popular contemporary hits like The Bong Connection and the Byomkesh Bakshi film series.
Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay is an eminent film academic, professor and the former Head of the Film Studies Department at Jadavpur University. A highly respected essayist and cultural critic, he has spent decades analyzing how cinema, history, and stardom intersect in Bengal.
Moderator
Arunava Khasnobis is an independent filmmaker and podcaster known for directing films like Bhalobasa Off Route E. Combining practical filmmaking experience with a deep love for film history, he brings a direct, industry-focused approach to moderating cultural panels.
Nayak: A Dramatic Reading
Date: 20 September 2026
Time: 6:30 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 12 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents a dramatic reading of selected scenes from Satyajit Ray’s Nayak, directed by Arpan Garai.
The reading brings together Basabdatta Chattopadhyay, Arna Mukhopadhyay, Anujoy Chattopadhyay, Arpan Garai and Dipanwita Sarkar to revisit the world of the film through the immediacy of live performance.
At the centre of Nayak is Arindam Mukherjee, a celebrated screen star whose public image conceals anxieties, insecurities and contradictions. Through selected scenes, the reading returns to some of the film’s most revealing moments, placing particular emphasis on dialogue, voice, pauses and character.
Moving away from the experience of a conventional screening allows the text itself to come forward differently. The live format creates another way of engaging with Ray’s writing while returning to Uttam Kumar’s unforgettable portrayal of a star confronting the distance between his public persona and private self.
The performance brings cinema and theatre together to revisit a defining work through a contemporary live interpretation.
Ekshobar Uttam
Date: 9 October 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents একশোবার উত্তম (Ekshobar Uttam), featuring the formal launch of the centenary edition of Uttam Kumar: A Life in Cinema by Sayandeb Chowdhury, published by Bloomsbury.
The launch will be followed by a panel discussion bringing together Sayandeb Chowdhury, film scholar Professor Moinak Biswas, and film critic and writer Jagori Bandyopadhyay.
The conversation will look at Uttam Kumar’s cinematic legacy through his craft, screen persona and extraordinary position within Bengali cinema. Moving beyond familiar accounts of stardom, the session will consider how his performances have been understood and reassessed over time, and what his work continues to offer cinema scholarship and criticism today.
A hundred years after his birth, Uttam Kumar remains central to the way Bengali cinema remembers its own history. The evening brings together biography, scholarship and critical conversation to consider the actor anew in his centenary year.
About the Speakers
Sayandeb Chowdhury is Associate Professor at the School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences, Krea University, and the author of Uttam Kumar: A Life in Cinema.
Moinak Biswas is Professor of Film Studies at Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
Jagori Bandyopadhyay is a Kolkata-based senior journalist, film critic and writer.
Uttam Through Her Eyes
Date: 25 September 2026
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 10 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity, in collaboration with Mirchi Bangla, presents two performances that revisit Uttam Kumar through very different perspectives, moving from personal memory and romance to comedy and familiar moments from his films.
Session 1:
Amaar Jibone Uttam Purush – Iti Ayantika | 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM
RJ Ayantika reads a series of letters addressed to Uttam Kumar, tracing the journey of a woman from the age of five to thirty-five.
As she grows older, her understanding of love, romance and companionship changes, but Uttam Kumar remains a recurring presence. Through these letters, the performance considers how a screen star quietly became an emotional reference point for generations of Bengali women, influencing ideas of romance far beyond the cinema hall.
Session 2:
Manu Mashi Remembers Uttam | 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM
In the second half, Mirchi Manali steps into her comic avatar Manu Mashi to reinterpret memorable comic sequences from Uttam Kumar’s films.
Drawing on Manali’s comic timing and the audience’s familiarity with these much-loved moments, the performance approaches the Mahanayak from a lighter angle, turning cinematic memory into an evening of humour and recognition.
Together, the two presentations offer contrasting ways of remembering Uttam Kumar, through the personal associations he inspired and the pleasure his films continue to bring audiences.
Music behind the Mahanayak
Date: 25 September 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents Music behind the Mahanayak, a conversation exploring the role of music and playback singing in shaping one of Bengali cinema’s most enduring screen personas.
Featuring composer Debojyoti Mishra, singer Iman Chakraborty and composer Indraadip Dasgupta, and moderated by Satarup Ghosh, the session looks beyond Uttam Kumar’s familiar screen image to examine how melodies, compositions and playback voices contributed to the characters, emotions and romantic worlds of his films.
For generations of Bengali audiences, many of Uttam Kumar’s most memorable screen moments remain inseparable from the songs that accompanied them. The discussion will revisit this relationship between actor, music and voice, while considering how these songs became part of the collective memory of Bengali cinema and its audience.
The session offers an opportunity to listen to Uttam Kumar’s legacy from a different perspective and explore the musical language behind the making of the phenomenon.
Speakers
Debojyoti Mishra is one of Bengal’s most distinct musical voices, famous for creating the timeless soundtrack of Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat and Chokher Bali. Having started his journey working alongside legend Satyajit Ray and master composer Salil Chowdhury, his music beautifully blends deep classical roots with everyday raw emotions. Beyond composing, he is also an active painter and multidisciplinary artist.
Iman Chakraborty is a powerhouse vocalist who won a National Award for her breakout film song "Tumi Jaake Bhalobasho". Widely loved for her high-energy live performances and deeply emotional studio tracks, she effortlessly shifts between Rabindra Sangeet, folk traditions, and modern cinematic playback, making her a defining voice of this generation.
Indraadip Dasgupta has been shaping the modern soundscape of Bengali commercial and art-house cinema for over two decades. Known for his versatile ability to compose catchy hit songs while also directing acclaimed, music-driven films like Kedara, his work explores how background scores drive the mood and tempo of cinematic storytelling.
Moderator
Satarup Ghosh is a prominent youth leader, sharp political analyst, and a highly popular face on regional television news debates. Known across the state for his witty, quick-thinking, and direct speaking style, he steps in to moderate this panel by bringing a contemporary, audience-friendly perspective to the discussion on cinema and public nostalgia.
Nayak: Between Screen and Self
Date: 26 September 2026
Time: 5:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents a special screening of Nayak, one of Uttam Kumar’s most iconic and widely acclaimed films.
Following the journey of matinee idol Arindam Mukherjee, the film moves beyond the assured public image of a star to reveal the anxieties, memories and compromises that lie underneath. Over the course of a train journey, the distance between celebrity and individual gradually narrows as Arindam is forced to confront parts of himself usually kept away from public view.
Uttam Kumar’s performance lies at the heart of this tension. Playing a screen star while drawing on the language and experience of stardom itself, he brings vulnerability, restraint and self-awareness to one of the defining roles of his career.
Nayak remains a compelling examination of fame, identity and the relationship between the performer and the person behind the performance.
Sarbottam
Date: 19 September 2026
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 10 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity, in collaboration with Mirchi Bangla, presents Sarbottam, a special presentation by RJ Somak and RJ Agni marking the centenary of Uttam Kumar.
The presentation turns to Uttam Kumar’s rare collaborations with Satyajit Ray, particularly Chiriakhana and Nayak, to look beyond the familiar image of Bengal’s greatest screen icon.
In these films, and especially in Nayak, Uttam Kumar’s performance reveals a different dimension of the actor. Removed from the conventions of the romantic hero, his work is marked by restraint, complexity and a willingness to examine the uncertainties beneath stardom.
Through conversation, reflection and moments drawn from these films, Somak and Agni revisit Uttam Kumar not simply as the Mahanayak, but as a performer of remarkable depth.
Sarbottam is an exploration of the actor, the star and the rare cinematic possibilities created when Uttam Kumar worked with Satyajit Ray.
The Dastan of Uttam Kumar
Date: 10 October 2026
Time: 7:15 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents The Dastan of Uttam Kumar - উত্তমের দাস্তান, a storytelling performance that revisits the extraordinary journey of the actor Bengal came to know and love as the Mahanayak.
Bringing together Dastangoi, theatre, music and poetry, the performance traces Uttam Kumar’s journey from his early struggles as an actor to the remarkable career that made him one of Indian cinema’s most enduring screen icons.
But the story does not end with stardom. Moving beyond the familiar image of the star, the performance turns towards the person behind it, revisiting his relationships, struggles, successes and the experiences that shaped his life away from the screen.
Through the intimacy of oral storytelling and performance, The Dastan of Uttam Kumar looks at how an actor became a phenomenon while retaining the complexities of the individual behind the public persona.
An evening for those who grew up with his films and those discovering them today.
About the Artists
Zahid Hossain is a thespian, voice artist and one of Kolkata’s early Dastangos. His work across theatre, performance and teaching reflects a sustained engagement with Dastangoi and the classical oral storytelling tradition.
Rahim Pirani is a theatre actor with experience across Hindi, Urdu and English productions. Associated with IPTA Mumbai, Third Stage Theatre Delhi, Playmakers and Theatrician, he has been performing with East India Dastangos since 2022.
Palashh Chaturvedi is a writer, theatre practitioner and co-founder of East India Dastangos. With a background in visual arts and advertising, his practice spans writing, performance and theatre education. He co-founded East India Dastangos in 2017 to engage with and carry forward traditional storytelling practices.
Uttam: A Life in Sand
Date: 10 October 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: KCC Amphitheatre
Recommended age: 16 years and above
Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents Uttam: A Life in Sand - বালুর রেখায় উত্তম, a live sand art performance by Sand Kaushik, celebrating the journey of Uttam Kumar.
Created before the audience in real time, a sequence of sand images will revisit moments from the actor’s life and career, tracing his journey to becoming Bengal’s beloved Mahanayak. As one image transforms into another, familiar chapters from Uttam Kumar’s story will take shape through a medium that is itself constantly changing.
The performance offers audiences a different way of remembering the actor and his extraordinary place in Bengali cinema. The evening will also feature an interactive quiz on Uttam Kumar, inviting audiences to test what they know and discover stories from the life and career of the screen legend.
A celebration through art and memory, Sand Kaushik brings Uttam Kumar’s story to life, one grain at a time.
This programme is presented as part of গুরু | GURU, an exclusive centenary exhibition on Uttam Kumar (18 September – 11 October 2026) at KCC, 1st floor.
About the Artist
Kaushik Bose, popularly known as Sand Kaushik, is a professional sand artist known for creating live, customised narratives through sand animation. He was the first Indian sand artist to release a feature-length sand art film with a censor certificate, Ramayana on Sand.
His live performances have been presented at major events including the T20 World Cup, Dubai Expo 2020 and Formula 1 India. His visual language draws from Bengali folk and traditional art while incorporating contemporary influences.
