Review of Uttam Kumar’s film Ekti Raat.
Uttam Kumar, the greatest superstar of Bengali films, created sensation in the 50s, with the legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Whenever both the romantic performers performed together, middle-class bengalies associated themselves with the characters and became part of the same film. Till today, they are still considered to be the most romantic pair, who had graced Indian silver screen.
In Ekti Raat, while Uttam Kumar’s wife Sabita Chatterji, lost her train, due to contingent reasons, Uttam Kumar travelled with Suchitra Sen was also married to his destination in car. As that car also faced mechanical problems, they had to stay in Tulsi Chakravarty’s hotel for one night. Tulsi Chakravarty, only allowed married couples in his hotel, and for staying over there for a night, Uttam Kumar had to tell a lie that he was the husband of Suchitra Sen.
Suchitra Sen came with her dog, which ran away from the garden of that hotel and ran into the fields at night. Malina Debi, the mother of Sabita Chatterji, went to the house where her daughter was supposed to go to trace her son-in-law. All the events continued one after the other with comedy sequences. When Kamal Mitra, the husband of Suchitra Sen, came to know about the incident, he decided that he had to do play acting with Uttam Kumar to convince his wife, that nothing untoward happened during the night when Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen stayed together in the same room.
The last part of the film was related to the manner in which the Sabita Chatterji was reconciled with the assistance of relatives like Pahari Sanyal, Chandabati Debi and others. Bhanu Banerjee played the role of a drunkard in the film.
The music of the film was brilliant with experiments done by Anupam Ghatak. Sandhya Mukherjee was elegant as usual especially in the song “kakon bole srimoti kande”. Her voice suited Suchitra Sen the most and she was indebted to Sandhya Mukherjee for her huge success in bengali films. The film released in 1956, had not lost its appeal even after 50 years of creation and should be restored.
Uttam Kumar, the greatest superstar of Bengali films, created sensation in the 50s, with the legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Whenever both the romantic performers performed together, middle-class bengalies associated themselves with the characters and became part of the same film. Till today, they are still considered to be the most romantic pair, who had graced Indian silver screen.
In Ekti Raat, while Uttam Kumar’s wife Sabita Chatterji, lost her train, due to contingent reasons, Uttam Kumar travelled with Suchitra Sen was also married to his destination in car. As that car also faced mechanical problems, they had to stay in Tulsi Chakravarty’s hotel for one night. Tulsi Chakravarty, only allowed married couples in his hotel, and for staying over there for a night, Uttam Kumar had to tell a lie that he was the husband of Suchitra Sen.
Suchitra Sen came with her dog, which ran away from the garden of that hotel and ran into the fields at night. Malina Debi, the mother of Sabita Chatterji, went to the house where her daughter was supposed to go to trace her son-in-law. All the events continued one after the other with comedy sequences. When Kamal Mitra, the husband of Suchitra Sen, came to know about the incident, he decided that he had to do play acting with Uttam Kumar to convince his wife, that nothing untoward happened during the night when Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen stayed together in the same room.
The last part of the film was related to the manner in which the Sabita Chatterji was reconciled with the assistance of relatives like Pahari Sanyal, Chandabati Debi and others. Bhanu Banerjee played the role of a drunkard in the film.
The music of the film was brilliant with experiments done by Anupam Ghatak. Sandhya Mukherjee was elegant as usual especially in the song “kakon bole srimoti kande”. Her voice suited Suchitra Sen the most and she was indebted to Sandhya Mukherjee for her huge success in bengali films. The film released in 1956, had not lost its appeal even after 50 years of creation and should be restored.
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