Uttam Kumar died in July 1980, and forty six years later Kolkata still has not really let him go. His photograph hangs in half the para clubs in the city, his songs open weddings from Behala to Baghbazar, and a Nandan screening of Nayak will still fill a hall on a wet Tuesday. This week the state marked his hundredth birth anniversary, and on Friday afternoon the tribute turned into something more permanent than a garland. A foundation stone went down at New Town for a film centre that will carry his name.
What Was Announced at New Town on Friday
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari laid the foundation stone for the Uttam Kumar Film Centre at New Town on Friday, September 4. The state information and cultural affairs department has already sanctioned Rs 25 crore for the project, and the centre is being planned along the lines of Nandan, the cultural complex in central Kolkata that has anchored the city’s film culture since the 1980s.
The Chief Minister said soil testing and site selection are finished and the detailed project report is being prepared. Construction agencies working under the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation are expected to start once the monsoon clears. He also said the design would be settled by people from the Bengali film industry rather than decided inside a government office, and directed the information and culture secretary, Soumitra Mohan, and WBHIDCO managing director Bibhu Goel to sit with the centenary committee to finalise it.
Mithun Chakraborty, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ranjit Mullick and Rituparna Sengupta were among the actors present at the ceremony.
What the Film Centre Will Actually Contain
The plan splits the complex into three blocks.
- The first block will hold two cinema halls with a combined capacity of about 750 seats, a preview theatre, a food court and parking.
- The second will have a 1,000 seat auditorium and an open air theatre for cultural programmes, along with a cafeteria.
- The third is the one that matters most to people working in the industry today. It is meant to house laboratories and studios for animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, extended reality and film post production.
That third block is what separates this from a straightforward memorial. Kolkata has plenty of screens and a shortage of finishing infrastructure, which is part of why a good deal of Bengali post production work still travels to Mumbai or Hyderabad. Whether a state built facility changes that depends entirely on how it is staffed and priced, and neither has been announced.
The location is worth noting as well. New Town already has a cluster of studios, offices and institutions, and putting the centre there rather than in the Nandan and Rabindra Sadan belt spreads the city’s cultural infrastructure eastward. The tradeoff is access. Central Kolkata’s cultural complex sits on top of a Blue Line metro station. New Town, for now, is mostly a bus or app cab ride from the older parts of the city.
Mithun Chakraborty Named Cultural Advisor
At the same event, the Chief Minister announced that Mithun Chakraborty will act as cultural advisor to the state government. The announcement came from the stage rather than through a formal notification, and the scope of the role, whether it carries a budget, a secretariat or only an advisory brief, has not been spelt out.
He also said prominent figures from the Bengali film industry would be felicitated over the following days, up to September 6, and that the list of honorees would be drawn up by a committee from the industry rather than by the government.
The Rest of the Centenary Week
The four day programme, titled Satabarshe Mahanayak: A Century of Stardom, was announced at a Nandan press conference by Purnima Chakraborty, minister of state for information and cultural affairs. It opened on September 3, the actor’s birth anniversary, with garlanding at his statues in Tollygunge and Ahiritola and the unveiling of a twenty foot cut out at Bijoli, one of the city’s older single screen halls.
Other elements of the week include a padayatra with artistes from the Academy of Fine Arts, a programme at Ektara Mancha, an exhibition on the actor’s life and work at Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala, a felicitation of Tollywood veterans at Rabindra Sadan, and the release of a commemorative stamp and envelope. A film festival is running at Nandan and Radha Studio, with Satyajit Ray’s Nayak as the opening film.
Saturday, September 5 carries a discussion session on Uttam Kumar at Sisir Mancha along with a musical programme built around songs from his films. The state has also said Uttam Mancha at Kalighat will be renovated and modernised, and the Chief Minister has asked for the centenary to be observed through the full year rather than closed out this weekend.
If You Are Planning to Go This Weekend
- Sisir Mancha, Nandan and Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala sit inside the same complex, so one trip covers three venues. Rabindra Sadan is the nearest Blue Line metro station.
- Check timings on the day itself. These programmes have been announced through press briefings rather than a printed schedule, and start times have moved more than once.
- Carry an umbrella. The IMD has kept rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for the city through September 9, and the padayatra and open air components are fully exposed.
- Nandan fills up faster than usual during a festival, so reaching thirty to forty minutes early is sensible for the Uttam Kumar titles.
- There is nothing to visit at the New Town site yet. It is a foundation stone, not a building.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where will the Uttam Kumar Film Centre be built?
At New Town, on the northern outskirts of Kolkata. The site has been selected and soil testing is complete, but the detailed project report is still being prepared.
How much will it cost and who is paying?
Rs 25 crore has been sanctioned by the West Bengal information and cultural affairs department. Construction will be carried out by agencies working under WBHIDCO.
When will construction start?
The Chief Minister said work will begin once the monsoon season ends. No completion date has been announced.
What role has Mithun Chakraborty been given?
He has been named cultural advisor to the West Bengal government. The announcement was made at the New Town ceremony on September 4, and the detailed terms of the role have not been made public.
What is still happening for the centenary?
Programmes run to September 6, including the discussion and music event at Sisir Mancha on September 5 and felicitations of Bengali film industry figures. The state has said the centenary will be marked through the year.
The Bottom Line
A foundation stone is a long way from a working film centre, and Kolkata has watched cultural projects sit at that stage for years. What makes this one worth following is the third block, the post production and animation studios, because that is the part that could actually change how Bengali films get finished rather than simply giving the city another auditorium. For now the practical news is simpler. There are Uttam Kumar screenings, an exhibition and a music programme running in central Kolkata this weekend, and all of them are easy to reach. If you are working out how to cross the city for them, our guide to changing lines on the Kolkata Metro is a good place to start, and our rundown of the IMD forecast through September 9 explains why the umbrella is not optional.
Sources: IANS report on the New Town foundation stone ceremony and the cultural advisor announcement (4 September 2026), Millennium Post report on the Satabarshe Mahanayak programme announced at Nandan (2 September 2026), with the layout of the proposed centre corroborated by Free Press Journal and Outlook India.
Featured image: an empty vintage cinema hall with the screen lit, photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash.
