Utpal Dutt – the majestic actor of bollywood.
Utpal Dutt is one of the most versatile theatre personalities who had glorified bollywood films with his knowledge and classic performances. He created his own theatre group called Little Theatres in the 60s, where he directed famous plays like Angar, Ferrary Fauj, Nicher Mahal, etc., and also translated Shakesperean plays like Othello, Macbeth, etc. into regional languages and directed them.
He performed very well in Mrinal Sen’s film Bhuban Some. Hrishikesh Mukherjee utilised his outstanding comedy conception in films like Guddi, Golmaal, Naram Garam, etc. In Guddi, he played the role of the relative of Jaya Bacchan, and with the help of Dhramender, showed her shooting of different films. Jaya was obsessed towards Dharmender and just like other teenagers, she used to think that whatever was shown in any film was true. Utpal Dutt showed her the reality and broke her myth.
In Golmaal, he was the owner of Urmila Traders, and the father of Vindya Goswami. He employed Amol Palekar in his company he went on taking the recourse of falsehood one after the other to survive in the company. Utpal Dutt believed in old values and Amol Palekar even played a double role, one showing the character of Ram and the other showing the character of Laxman. The film had excellent script, and Utpal Dutt’s loud performance had balanced Amol Palekar’s soft dialogue throwing.
The same team did very well in the film Naram Garam, where Utpal Dutt was told by an astrologer that marriage can change his fortune. He went to marry Swaroop Sampad at an old age, while his relatives appeared and he asked Amol Palekar to marry her. Wihle comedy performance looked very easy due to talented performance from Utpal Dutt, he also played the role of villain in a number of films.
He played the role of villain opposite Uttamkumar, in Amanush, opposite Amitabh in Inquilab, etc. His other notable films include Kisi Se Na Kehna, with Farooq Sheikh, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, with Big B. Utpal Dutt was also a big asset in Satyajit Ray’s films. He played the leading role in the film Agantuk, where depicted the values of Ray himself. Besides his performance in the role of Maganlal Meghraj in Joy Baba Felunath and villanish performance in Hirok Rajar Deshe, amazed the viewers. It is difficult to highlight the contribution of Utpal Dutt in a small article because he was scholar, great theatrical personality, powerful actor of bollywood and tollywood films. Actors of the present generation can learn a lot from the performances of Utpal Dutt.
By: CR Chatterji.
