Kolkata, Sept. 4 -- The state government has organised a four-day mega celebration to mark the birth centenary of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar. On the second day of the celebrations, CM Suvendu Adhikari laid the foundation stone for the Uttam Kumar Film Centre in New Town. Later in the day, the focus shifted to the Nandan and Rabindra Sadan premises, where a series of events were held to honour the legendary actor's legacy.

One of the highlights of Friday's programme was the inauguration of a specially curated film festival dedicated to Uttam Kumar. Veteran filmmaker Sandip Ray was present at Nandan for the special screening of his father, maestro Satyajit Ray's 1966 cult classic Nayak, which features Uttam Kumar in one of his most acclaimed performances. "It is indeed special to see Uttam Kumar being celebrated on such a huge scale," Ray said.

Over the next two days, audiences will get to revisit several of Uttam's iconic films, including Jatugriha, Agnishwar, Sesh Anka, Antony Firingee and Harano Sur, which will be screened at Nandan and Radha Studio. A special felicitation ceremony was also organised at Rabindra Sadan, where several eminent personalities from the Bengali film fraternity were honoured by the state government. Among those felicitated were veteran actors Sabitri Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Lily Chakravarty, Biswajit Chatterjee, Ranjit Mallick, Dipankar De and Mithun Chakraborty, along with Ratna Ghoshal, Prabhat Roy and Bireswar Chatterjee.

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya, state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta and Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs Purnima Chakraborty were also present at the ceremony. As part of the celebrations, India Post released a special cover and postage stamp commemorating the Mahanayak.

Echoing the Chief Minister's call for the revival of Bengali cinema, Bhattacharya said the Bengali film industry must reclaim its lost glory. He urged the state government to make select Bengali films tax-free. He also called for more government auditoriums to be made available to support and strengthen the

Bengali film industry.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.