For many Uttam Kumar fans, time came to a standstill with the untimely demise of the legend in 1980. Others found solace in his memories or revelled in the nostalgia by watching his films over and over again. For some, he symbolised the golden era of Bengali movies. Now, here’s a piece of great news for everyone — Uttam Kumar ‘stars’ in a new film, thanks to Srijit Mukherji. Written and directed by Srijit, Oti Uttam stars Uttam Kumar in the lead. Yes, Uttam Kumar himself has acted in the romantic comedy.

Oti Uttam also stars Gourab Chatterjee (Kumar’s grandson), Anindya Sengupta, Roshni Bhattacharyya, VJ Jina, Laboni Sarkar and Subhasish Mukherjee.

How did Srijit make the impossible happen? “Uttam Kumar’s character has been built through existing footage from his various films. New lines were written around existing dialogues... so the script was written through back calculation,” says Srijit, who has already wrapped up the shoot of the film. Scenes featuring Uttam Kumar were collected from 54 of his films.

In Oti Uttam, Uttam Kumar appears by way of planchette in black-and-white and advises one of his die-hard fans on his love life and helps him to win over the lady love. “I watched all his films to build a story around existing dialogues and situations and then wrote a script on it. I was working on the script for three years. Uttam Kumar is walking, moving, sitting, reacting to other people, interacting with other people... we took into account all his reactions and movements as well as dialogues... and then shot the corresponding new portions with the cast accordingly,” says Srijit.

Gourab in 2005 Sourced by the correspondent

Roshni Sourced by the correspondent

Oti Uttam is produced by Camellia Productions, Matchcut Productions and Chayabani. The film’s music is by Saptak Sanai Das and the BGM is by Prabuddha Banerjee. VFX plays a major role and 4th Dimension is working on the VFX.

Incidentally, Srijit had started his film career by paying tribute to two icons (Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar) with Autograph. “Srijitda had wanted me for his first film, Autograph. Due to a few reasons it didn’t happen for me. One fine day he calls up and tells me that he’s making another film and that has me in it. I fell in love with the script instantly especially ’cause it’s a rom-com. My favourite genre. I have always turned down any work relating to my grandfather as it has already been tough for me to be away from his shadow and make a name of my own. But this project is totally different. Also majorly ’cause it is a Srijit Mukherji film. I am extremely happy as Srijitda is happy with my performance. When the director is happy with my work, it means the world to me. I believe viewers will love the film as it is something very very different,” smiles Gourab.