Name of the Activity: A Special Lecture on the Occasion of the Birth Centenary of Uttam Kumar: Uttam Kumar and Post-Independence Melodrama
Type of Activity: Academic
Date: 12 August 2026
Time: 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Details of Resource Person: Prof. Moinak Biswas, Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University.
No. of Participants: 75

Objective of the Event: The programme was organised to commemorate the birth centenary of Uttam Kumar and to provide students with an opportunity to engage critically with his cultural legacy and the history of post-Independence Bengali cinema. It also aimed to familiarise students with the era of black-and-white Bengali cinema, which is an important phase in Bengali film history.

Brief Description of the Event: The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, in collaboration with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), The Bhawanipur Education Society College, organised the special lecture. In his lecture, Prof. Biswas discussed the emergence of modernity in post-Independence Bengali cinema and explored how Uttam Kumar appropriated and embodied this changing idea of the modern on screen. He also traced the trajectory of Uttam Kumar’s career, discussing how he gradually emerged as the Mahanayak of Bengali cinema and how, towards the later phase of his career, he began to move away from the star image he had created. The lecture was followed by a lively discussion with faculty members and students, who engaged with Prof. Biswas on various aspects of Uttam Kumar’s stardom and post-Independence Bengali cinema.

Outcome of the Event: The lecture enabled the participants to understand Uttam Kumar’s stardom within the broader transformations of post-Independence Bengali cinema and society. It introduced students to the relationship between cinema, modernity, and the construction of a star persona. The post-lecture interaction further encouraged students and faculty members to engage critically with Uttam Kumar’s cinematic and cultural legacy.