Early Life and Family
Uttam Kumar was born in Kolkata in the home of his maternal uncle at Ahiritola, while his ancestral house is on Girish Mukherjee Road, Bhowanipore, Kolkata. After his schooling in South Suburban School (Main), he went for higher studies in Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration, a college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He could not, however, complete his studies and started working at the Kolkata Portrust, then known as Calcutta Port Trust, as a clerk. During this period, he acted in amateur theatre groups. His prodigious joint family had its own theatre group, the Suhrid Samaj, which staged many amateur shows.
Uttam Kumar was the eldest of three sons (Arun, Barun and Tarun) of Satkari Chatterjee and Chapala Debi. The youngest, whose screen name was Tarun Kumar, acted in several Bengali films and grew to become an actor of considerable repute, in screen and on stage. There are several films in which Uttam Kumar and Tarun Kumar starred together like Saptapadi, Sonar Harin, Maya Mriga, Sesh Anka, Deya Neya, Jeeban-Mrityu, Dhanyi Meye,Mon Niye, Sanyasi Raja, and Agniswar. Uttam Kumar married Gauri Debi . Their only son, Gautam, a businessman, died of cancer at the age of 53. His grandson, Gaurav is a Tollywood actor. Pulak Bandyopadhyay, a famous lyricist, was his uncle. Uttam kumar is generally perceived in Bengal as Mahanayak meaning the great actor.
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