Anup Kumar

To Anup Kumar goes the unique distinction of having appeared in more than 300 Bengali movies over a span of more than 50 years, and yet having enacted the role of the central hero in very few of them. However, by dint of his tremendous acting skills, in whatever roles he appeared, he made a mark on the minds of the audience with his superb performance, and his fans never seemed to have had enough of him. His father, who himself was a singer-actor, out of his enthusiasm, introduced Anup as a child artist in the 1938 movie “Halbangla”. Reminiscing later on, Anup confessed that he did not remember anything about that first film of his but did register “ Sangram Click to look into! >> Read More... ”, released in 1946, as his first coming of age film.

Critics of that period would, however, rate the 1947 film “ Chandrashekhar Chandrashekhar is another Indian drama which is ai >> Read More... ” as a more noteworthy film in his career. In this, which also happened to be actor Ashok Kumar Ashok Kumar hails from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. >> Read More... ’s first Bengali film, Anup Kumar excelled as the younger version of Ashok Kumar. He went on to fulfill that promise in his first lead role in “Dhatri Debata” released the very next year. Incidentally, Anup Kumar’s initial years were also enriched by his tutelage under Sisir Bhaduri Shishir Kumar Bhaduri was an actor, also known as >> Read More... , the doyen of Bengali theatre, and Anup later on became an active member of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). He also evinced keen interest In Jatra (performed by the travelling theatre troupes in rural Bengal), moving with them whenever he found time.

For someone with over 300 films to his name till the time of his death in 1998, it is difficult to talk about his individual roles. On a more serious and generalized appraisal of his career, it can be summed up that although he was more popular for his more comic portrayals, his serious roles were of a very high class. Truly speaking Bengali cinema has still not found another Anup Kumar, who could, through the sheer depth of his performance, stand out even in the presence of the most important characters in the scene. His acting also contained a very natural flow to it, devoid of any theatrical stereotypes, although he had a background in theatre, and his wife also was from a similar theatre background.

Another version of this bio...

Anup Kumar is an actor who acted mostly in Bengali movies. Branded as a comedian in Bengali cinema, was an actor par excellence and even single-handedly took up the responsibility for the success of many movies. Since he started to learn comedy from his father, he started doing comedy acting with a little bit of intelligence.  

Besides, he was even a trained theatre artist. He even brought a new dimension to his body language and dialogue delivery. He was cast in comedy roles, he also accepted serious roles and went to entertain the viewers for almost five decades. He acted with all Bengali legendary filmmakers, actors, actress and mainly tried to gain the popularity with other veteran comedians like Robi Ghosh, Johor Roy and Bhanu Bandopadhya.  

He was also active in theatres and did take up directorial job for movies.  He had excellence comic-timing and thereby excelled in comedy acting only. Since in Indian cinema, in every film there used to be specific comic scenes, the need for an actor like Anup Kumar was easily felt. Many actors followed his route later on. He was comedy actor of that period. He has acted in 500 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. He also immortalized the character of Feluda in detective story written by  Satyajit Ray Biographies reveal bare details about the maverick >> Read More... . Although he was stereotyped playing comedy characters, he took up playing serious roles and even semi-comic roles that brought out his performance in sharp contrast. Finding a parallel to Anup Kumar in Bengali cinema is difficult. Anup Kumar was born on the 17th of June, in the year 1930 in Kolkata. 

His notable performance in films such as   'Basanto Bilap', 'Mouchak', 'Dadar Kirti ‘ which remains unparalleled even in Indian cinema too. Just as a child actor, he started his career, but never acted in more than one film. He was considered to me the most under-rated actor. He left a permanent void in the industry after he left his family, friends and fans for his heavenly abode on September 3, 1998.