Utpal Dutt, a successful actor, director, writer-playwright, and theatre-activist who remained a radical figure in Bengali theatre and Indian cinema for more than 40 years.
He received National Film Award for Best Actor in 1970 and three Filmfare Best Comedian Awards. In 1990, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre, awarded him its highest award, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to theatre.
On 19 August 1993, Dutt died due to a heart attack right after he returned home from the S.S.K.M hospital, Calcutta, West Bengal where he had undergone dialysis.
On the acting legends, death anniversary we take a look at some of the lesser-known and interesting facts about Utpal Dutt.
- Aamir Khan’s mother in ‘Lagaan’ once played the female lead opposite Utpal Dutt
- Utpal Dutt stepped into the world of English theatre when he was a student at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.
- His entry into cinema was more by chance than a deliberate choice. When Shakespearana International Theatre Company decided to leave India, Utpal Dutt’s troupe was still performing English plays
- Utpal Dutt was also unparallel in his stereo-comic avatar, particularly, when he is in a hunting trip and ends up with no hunt. But, ironically the explorer Shom shaheb (Utpal Dutt) manages to explore the wretched life suffered by his subordinate whom he had suspended once.
- Utpal Dutt’s debut Hindi film was not ‘Guddi’ but ‘Saat Hindusthani’ directed by K. A. Abbas. Only a few people know it was also Amitabh Bachhan’s first film (made in 1969). Utpal Dutt was seen as a Punjabi Sikh military person while Amitabh played an untouchable mystery man.
Remembering Utpal Dutt: An actor with intelligent comic punch
