Uttam Cholochitro Utsab 2019 was inaugurated recently on the death anniversary of the versatile actor Uttam Kumar at Nandan 1.

Present at the inauguration was Rituparna Sengupta (Chairperson of Shilpi Sansad), Goutam Ghose, Madhabi Mukherjee, Ratna Ghoshal, Reshmi Mitra and others.

The initiative of this film festival is taken up by Shilpi Sansad.

Speaking at the occasion, Rituparna Sengupta said “We need to preserve the films of Uttam Kumar. Otherwise the next generation will only see his picture or hear about him. Hence it is very essential that we preserve his work so that they will know what a great actor he was”.

Goutam Ghose also emphasized on the fact that whatever prints of Uttam Kumar’s films are available, they are not of a high standard. Steps need to be taken so that good quality prints of his works can be preserved for the future generation of film lovers and film makers.

Ratna Ghoshal narrated some stories about the late actor. “I was acting with him in a film and I was very small then. I did not understand his stature then. But he was such a nice man. He picked three guavas for me and gave it to me during the shoot. He did not have to do that for me. But he did. This speaks ample about him” said the actress.

The inaugural film shown was Natun Tirtha.

The festival will continue till 30^th July.

Priyanka Dutta