Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Shesh Anka was an excellent crime thriller.



Shesh Anka was an excellent crime thriller.

Haridas Bhattacharya, the director of the film Shesh Anka made an excellent film Shesh Anka released in 1963. The film was based on a crime-related suspense story. Uttam Kumar was in love with Sharmila Tagore, the daughter of Pahari Sanyal.

Bikash Roy, the detective in the film, appointed Kamal Mitra, the lawyer of Sabitri Chatterjee, whom he asked to pretend to be the first wife of Uttam Kumar. Uttam Kumar told everyone that his first wife committed suicide by laying down in a railway track.

Uttam Kumar contacted the Police Officer Dipak Mukherjee, who asked him to file case relating to cheating against Sabitri Chatterjee. His lawyer Utpal Dutta produced the post mortem report and death certificate of his first wife. But Kamal Mitra proved that those documents could not establish the death of his first wife and allegation against Sabitri Chatterjee.

The last witness in the case was the naval officer Tarun Kumar who was the brother of Uttam Kumar’s first wife. He came to Uttam Kumar’s house and when he was shown Sabitri’s photo, he said it was the photo of his sister. Uttam Kumar slapped him and confessed before Sharmila that he had killed his first wife and himself threw her in a railway to be killed by a train. Bikash Roy said that there was no other cogent evidence other than Uttam Kumar’s own confession which could prove the crime.

The film did excellent business. All the performers in the film were brilliant including Uttam Kumar, Kamal Mitra, Sabitri Chatterjee, Tarun Kumar, Bikash Roy and others. Uttam Kumar was very bold enough to accept a negative role at the prime of his career when he was the greatest matinee idol of Bengal. The music was composed by Pabitra Chatterjee.

Haridas Bhattacharya, the husband of Kanan Debi, who was associated with Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s literature like Abhaya Srikanto, Rajlakshi Srikanto, experimented with a crime thriller and got the appreciation of the intellectual community of Bengal. The film should be preserved and restored.

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