Bring in more Bengali songs in serials and films: Mamata
The Statesman | 25 July 2025
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged the directors and producers to use more Bengali songs in films and tele-serials and regretted attacks on Bengali speaking workers in different states.
She was addressing a gathering at Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium to pay tribute to Uttam Kumar, the most popular matinee idol in Tollywood on his 45th death anniversary.
Director Gautam Ghose got the Mayanak Uttam Kumar award. Actor Gargi Roy Chowdhury, vocalists Iman Chakraborty and Rupankar Bagchi received awards for their contribution to Bengali culture.
Miss Banerjee regretted that though Uttam Kumar stayed quite close to her residence in Bhowanipore, she did not get any chance to see him. “In those days when I was a kid, my mother used to take me to watch Bengali movies at the cinema halls, including Purna, Bharati, Bijoli in night shows that started at 9 pm. I enjoyed the songs sung by Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Shyamal Mitra, Sandhya Mukherjee. “Those songs are fresh in my memory. It is unfortunate that in the films and television serials, few Bengali songs are used now. We should be proud of our own culture and language. We should respect the culture and language of others but cannot afford to forget our own culture,” she said.
Miss Banejee urged the director and producers of Bengali serials not to show negative thoughts. “When you stretch a serial, do not show violence. Watching a serial is for relaxation and should not show anything that increases our tension.”
She congratulated actor Prasenjit Chatterjee for taking up a proposal to set up small theatres to project Bengali films across the state.
The programme was followed by a cultural programme, where singers, including Sriradha Bandyopadhyay, Iman Chakraborty, Manomoy Bhattacharya took part among others.
The statue of Uttam Kumar at Tollygunge was garlanded by Rituparna Sengupta and others. She is the president of Shilpi Sangsad. Uttam Kumar had set up this organisation to help technicians and people associated with Tollywood suffering from financial difficulty.
A 10-day Uttam Kumar retrospective began at Nandan I and Nandan II today. Some of the popular films acted by Uttam Kumar will be screened such as Chriyakhana, Saptapadi, Memshaheb, Sabyasachi, Mouchak, Agnishwar among others.
Rituparna Sengupta, president of Shilpi Sangsad garlanded the statue of Uttam Kumar at Tollygunge this morning along with others. Uttam Kumar had acted in two films directed by Satyajit Ray, namely, Nayak and Chiriyakhana where he played the role of detective Byomkesh Bakshi.