Thursday, November 26, 2009

Review of Uttam Kumar's Ami Se O Sakha.




Review of Uttam Kumar's Ami Se O Sakha.

Uttam Kumar’s Ami Se O Sakha was released in 1975 and created a great impact in the minds of the viewers. The director Mongol Chakravarty experimented with the literature of Ashutosh Mukherjee and the brilliant performances of the team of actors and actresses created a different dimension for the film.

Uttam Kumar belonged to a poor family in the family. His elder brother which was played by Uttam Kumar again with a different make up earned money by teaching students in the locality. One of such student Aroti Bhattacharya misbehaved with him, and her father thinking that the teacher had a bad character whipped him. Uttam Kumar’s brother turned insane and did spend the rest of the life in an asylum.

Uttam Kumar was brought up by Asitboron, the father of Anil Chatterji, who gave a new life to Uttam Kumar. Both Uttam Kumar and Anil Chatterji became doctors. They met Kaberi Bose, a writer in Lucknow and from that time got attached with her. Anil Chatterji married Kaberi Bose and all three of them remained friends. Anil Chatterji went abroad and returned to Kolkata and opened a nursing home.

Uttam Kumar met Aroti Bhattacharya, the wife of Tarun Kumar and ridiculed her in a party to take revenge about the ill-treatment done to his brother which compelled him to become insane. Uttam Kumar disclosed before Kaberi Bose about the entire event and the reasons for his action.

But Anil Chatterji got involved in unlawful practices. He took money for abortion of a child and the mother of the child died in the process. Uttam Kumar took Anil Chatterji’s blame on him and suffered imprisonment for seven years. He sacrificed his life to repay the contribution of Anil Chatterji’s father Asitboron who brought him up. Uttam Kumar lastly said he wanted to see a happy family of Anil Chatterji when he came out of prison, a family with a child.

The film was related to a serious subject and as such there was hardly any scope for songs. Even then Shyamal Mitra’s music was impressive. The two songs “emon sapna kokhone dekhini age” sung by Haimanti Shukhla and “ei hashi manay nato” sung by Shyamal Mitra were successful. Uttam Kumar, Anil Chatterji and Kaberi Bose were at their best in the film.

The film was remade with the title Bemisaal by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in the late 70s. The film did excellent business in bollywood. Amitabh Bacchan played the role of Uttam Kumar in that film, while Vinod Mehra played the role of Anil Chatterji in the film and Rakhee played the role of Kaberi Bose. Ami Se O Sakha was a clear example Kolkata’s dominance in All India films and for those reasons the film should be preserved and restored.

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