Director Atanu Ghosh, who moderated the panel, told TOI he often used Uttam Kumar’s clips

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I am still haunted by his performance in the 1975 film ‘Agniswar’,” Sarkar said.

Uttam Kumar has rarely been the subject of in-depth discussions, his immense popularity may have fostered a sense of professional envy that kept such conversations at bay,” Rudranil said. Director Atanu Ghosh, who moderated the panel, told TOI he often used Uttam Kumar’s clips at acting workshops. That tiny shift opens the moment up to layered interpretations,” Atanu said. “It is a solitary seven-second walk through a hospital corridor, without a single word, evokes such radical interpretations that it almost reveals the story’s final denouement to those who have not even seen the film,” he said. He called a scene from ‘Agniswar’ a “masterclass in Uttam Kumar’s restrained, matured acting, free from loud melodrama”. Conveying a thousand untold words without a single dialogue, this use of eyes and body language defines Uttam Kumar’s signature style and timeless charisma,” Sarkar said.

KOLKATA: While retrospective conversations surrounding his birth centenary frequently label Uttam Kumar as a romantic matinee idol, such views often overlook the actor’s willingness to embrace dark, complex and non-conformist roles that challenged his standard ‘bhadralok’ screen image. “Many of my students have had no prior engagement with Uttam Kumar’s films. But their responses are truly eye-opening. I remember their reactions to a scene in ‘Chowringhee’, where he is simply waving at someone. It begins quite casually, but then there is a pause in the wave, followed by a fleeting smile on his lips. Another clip he referred to is from ‘Jiban Jignasa’. Such analysis set the ball rolling for discussions beyond Sisir Mancha. “Instead of crying over the departure of Suchhanda’s character, all he uses is a facial twitch and a heavy sigh. The slight tremble of his hands and his empty gaze as he scatters the torn letter create a profound ache in the audience.

Actor Satrajit Sarkar , known for his powerhouse acting in ‘Once Upon a Time in Kolkata’ and ‘Winkle Twinkle’, said, “Uttam Kumar was a master of what we today call behavioural acting.