Bhubaneswar: Had Uttam Mohanty devoted little more time and attention to Bengali cinema, he would have gained more prominence in Tollywood. That’s what film critics in Bengal felt as they recollected the actor’s contributions to Bengali cinema and mourned his demise.
Moreover, they felt he could have replaced actor Tapas Pal— one of the most celebrated actors of Bengali cinema— as he had become a household name in Bengal during the 80s.
But why?
“Uttam Mohanty had a Bengali look. His personality and physical appearance matched that of a Bengali ‘bhodrolok’ (gentleman). That’s why he was well-accepted by the Bengali audience, who never took him to be an outsider. Rather, for the Bengali audiences, he was their very own,” Alokeprosad Chattopadhyay, the Entertainment and Cultural Editor of Aajkal newspaper, told Odisha Bytes.
Chattopadhyay claimed that as Mohanty was too busy with his Ollywood films, he often couldn’t stay in Bengal for long. “There’s no doubt he would have been one of the leading actors in Bengali films, like Prosenjit or Tapas Pal. But he was too preoccupied with his Odia projects,” said Chattopadhyay.
Mohanty, a veteran actor and one of the most loved icons of the Odia film industry, passed away on Thursday night while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Gurugram. He was 66.
Born on December 23, 1958, in Baripada, Uttam entertained audiences for the last four decades. He entered the cinematic world with the Odia film Abhimaan in 1977 and soon became a household name with his movies ‘Shankha Mahuri,’ ‘Chinha-Achina,’ ‘Nijhum Ratira Saathi,’ and ‘Danda Balunga,’ making him one of the most prominent actors of the Odia film industry.
Apart from 135 Odia films, he also appeared in 30 Bengali films and a Hindi film, ‘Naya Zaher’. He was also a well-known personality on television who appeared in hit Odia serials such as ‘Katha Kahuthile Saribani,’ ‘Panatkani,’ and ‘Sara Akash’.
Some of his famous Bengali films are ‘Sangsar’, ‘Maa’, ‘Sukher Swarga’, ‘Bidhira Bidhan’, ‘Jor Jar Mulak Tar’, among others. “Uttam Mohanty was so popular in Bengali cinema that often people would draw parallels between him and Uttam Kumar as both shared the same first name,” shared film critic and independent journalist, Sharmila Maity.
Tollywood actor and his co-star in several films, Rituparna Sengupta, mourned his demise. “He is a mega star of the Odia film industry. His son, Babushaan is also a big actor and I think it is a big achievement for Uttam da. We shared a family-like bond. When he was unwell, I called the family to know about his health. It is indeed a very big loss for the industry. As an actor, I can say that he was a very commercial yet natural actor. I started working in the films at a quite young age and so on the sets, he would fondly refer to me as ‘baccha meye (young girl),” she said.