Did you know Soumitra Chattopadhyay first met Uttam Kumar during his sister’s wedding?

There are so many stories about Soumitra Chattopadhyay and his peer Uttam Kumar, the two acting legends. There was a time when Soumitra’s equation with Uttam Kumar used to be a subject of tea table debate. However, in reality they were good friends. Soumitra himself had once said through the furors and fights, Uttam Kumar and his friendship stood the test of time.

But not many people know how Soumitra first met Uttam. “He was a close friend of my brother-in-law. The first time I met him was when he came to our house for my sister’s wedding. The first film we did together was Tapan Sinha’s ‘

Jhinder Bandi

’ (1961). We fell in love with each other during the film’s outdoor. (Laughs) After that, through furors and fights, our friendship stood the test of time,” shared the veteran

actor

while speaking about his relation with the matinee idol.

The thespian also doesn’t like to be labeled with any particular term despite many referring him as a ‘cerebral actor’ and Uttam Kumar as ‘pop icon’. “See, I don’t like at all this leveling. A good actor is both cerebral as well as down-to-earth. A so-called cerebral actor has to have his feet planted on the ground. Or else, you can’t be a good actor. I had met Uttam Kumar long before I came into films,” adds Soumitra Chattopadhyay.