Actress Uma Dasgupta, celebrated for her portrayal of Durga in Satyajit Ray's iconic film Pather Panchali, has passed away. She was 85. Uma died on Monday morning after a prolonged illness. In an exclusive interview with Zoom, Sandeep Ray fondly paid tribute to the late actress. Here are the excerpts from the chat:
Sandeep, we have lost your father’s Durga from Pather Panchali…
Yes, I know. Uma Dasgupta. The strangest part is that she was not, you know, a professional actress. She was not! She only starred in one film and she was so, you know, so striking with her work.
Immortalized?
Well, that's probably why she didn't, you know, continue. It takes a lot of guts with that kind of adulation to spurn all offers. It must have been very difficult. That height of excellence in her first film would have been impossible to match.
Did you have any kind of interaction with her?
I have very faint memories, you know. I was about two years old. And after that, she didn't keep in touch. She became a recluse.
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Why would she do that? Was she shy of the attention?
She was, she was very shy. She was so good in that film. Oh, my God. We cannot imagine Pather Panchali without her. Without, without Durga. Sandeep, I must tell you.
I saw the film again recently for the umpteenth time. I wish I could find something negative to say about it.
It just doesn't age. It just doesn't age. It doesn't. There is a certain universal resonance about it. My father was so satisfied with her (Uma)’s work, you know. He didn't tell her anything. Just gave her, you know, the basic instructions. And she did her job. An absolute natural born. Absolute natural. And there were no retakes at all.
How did he find her? He must have auditioned numerous girls.
I don't remember exactly. But she came to our Lake Avenue house with somebody, whom my father knew. And my father talked to her for a little while and she was cast. It's as simple as that! No audition, nothing at all.
This is called destiny, Sandeep. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. But directing a child has never been easy. You have directed some wonderful films with children. But how did he handle her? Did he handle her like a young adult or did he mollycoddle her?
No. He never used to mollycoddle anybody. Treated both Uma and Subir Banerjee (who played Apu) as adults, you know. No chocolates, no, you know, nothing.
I think chocolates would have been a little out of place in that movie?
That's true. That's true. Because he never used to do that. He never used to do that. He never pampered even his adults, no matter how big a star. And Apu who was with Durga. He's still there. He's still with us. Unfortunately, we've lost contact. It's very unfortunate. We lost contact with Uma also. There were many occasions, you know. The anniversary celebrations. I mean, there were a lot of occasions. We always contacted her. And she was very aloof.
Why was she so shy?
She didn't come most of the time. She didn't come. She was never interested in acting, especially after Pather Panchali. And she became a housewife. And, you know… Normal Bengali housewife. She hated the spotlight. That was so strange and yet so admirable. She was very special. She was impeccable as Durga. I mean, she is absolutely out of this world. And what a presence.