5. Antony Firingee (1967); Dir: Sunil Bandopadhyay
Still revelling in the glow of Nayak, which released the previous year, Uttam delivered yet another winner in this biopic on the life of Hensman Anthony, a Portuguese, who in nineteenth-century Bengal overcame the obstacles of language, and ridicule and humiliation at the hands of the leading Bengali kobiyals (poet-singers) of the era to emerge as a devotional and folk poet, known for his mastery of kobigaan or song duels. He marries a courtesan, memorably played by Tanuja, only to court social ostracization. Boasting some of the finest songs of Bengali cinema – ‘Aami je jalsaghare’, ‘Aami jamini tumi shoshi hey’ – the film fetched Uttam the National Award for Best Actor, then known as the Bharat Award, one that he shared with … well, himself, in Chiriyakhana, making him not only the first-ever winner of the National Award, but also the only one to have won it for two films in the same year!
