Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Shashi Kapoor was born on this day, in the year 1938, in Kolkata. He was the son of Raj Kapoor and made his career in Bollywood films. He had his first adult role in Yash Chopra's film Dharmputra (1961). After that, till mid eighties he played in 116 Hindi films, amongst them 61 as solo lead role, 55 in multi-starrer films, 21 as supporting actor and 7 films with special appearance. He was a very popular actor in 60s, 70s and till mid-eighties. His favourite actress was Nanda, with whom he acted in 8 films in 60s. Nanda also admitted him as her favourite actor. They played in the films 'Need Hamari Khwab Tumhare', 'Raja Saab', 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', 'Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain', 'Rootha Na Karo' and a few more. Shashi Kapoor also played opposite several heroines like Babita, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, Raakhi, Sharmila Tagore, Mousumi Chatterjee, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi. Sharmilee, Pyar Ka Mausam,...

                 It is the golden jubilee year of Satyajit Ray's film 'Nayak' where Uttam Kumar was the Hero. To mark the event,  22nd Kolkata Film Festival has arranged an exhibition on Uttam Kumar at Gaganendra Pradarshashala (গগনেন্দ্র প্রদর্শশালা) where rare posters, booklets of cinemas of Uttam Kumar and informative biography with filmography of this legendary actor are being exhibited. The exhibition has all the documentations of Mahanayak and his film related contents. The rare photographs of Uttam Kumar were taken by Nimai Ghosh, Mona Chowdhury, Subinoy Das and Satyajit Ray. On 12th November, 2016 veteran actress Madhabi Mukhopadhyay inaugurated the exhibition at 5pm. She said, "All the Bengalees have tremendous respect for Uttam Kumar. I afraid, another Mahanayak will never come. Uttam Kumar was one & only Mahanayak." The exhibition will run upto 18th November, 2016.

Rabindranath staged his play 'Dakghar' (The Post Office) at his own house in Kolkata and acted in the role of Fakir (on the right here).-- A. B.