Anup Kumar (Bengali actor)

Anup Kumar was born on 17 June 1930 in Calcutta, British India. His real name was Satyen Das. His parents were Dhirendra Nath Das who was a singer and actor and was closely associated with the famous poet and composer, Kazi Nazrul Islam [1899-1976], and Bijoya Das. He passed his Matriculation at the Calcutta Jubilee Institution. In 1986, he married actress Aloka Ganguly.

Anup Kumar took his acting lessons from his father and Sisir Kumar Bhaduri. He started acting quite early in life. He got his first break as a child artist in Dhiren Ganguly's film Halkatha (1938). Palatak, Jiban Kahini, Alor Pipasa, Nimantran and Thagini were the movies which exposed his versatility as an actor. He was also involved with live theatre, yatras, and film directing.

In 1964, he was awarded the BFJA Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film Palatak. He received a silver medal from the Star Theatre. In 1988, he won the West Bengal Natya Academy Award. In 1989, he was awarded with Siromoni Prize and in 1991, he was awarded Best Director for his yatras. In 1997, he was recognized by the BFJA Awards for completion of 50 years in films.

Besides his superlative performance in Palatak, Anup Kumar is also remembered for his brilliant comic timing. Along with the classic comedians like Nabadwip Haldar, Bhanu Bandopadhyay, Jahor Roy and Rabi Ghosh, Anup Kumar is much-admired comedic roles in films such as Basanta Bilap, Mouchak, Fuleswari, Dadar Kirti, Protisodh etc.

In 1996, Kumar stood for election to the Vidhan Sabha as a CPI(M) representative from Cossipore; but he was not elected.^{[citation needed]}