Nirmal Kumar

In 1949, Nirmal Kumar was an LDC at Calcutta High Court when he joined Gananatya on Sabitabrata Dutta's insistence.^[7] Several days later, he became a part of Bohurupee, which offered him the golden opportunity to observe Sombhu Mitra's acting style and voice modulation. Rabi Basu in his Satrang stated that Kumar excelled in all his radio dramas as he learned a substantial part of voice modulation from Mitra.^[7] The plays Kumar collaborated with Bohurupee were Pathik and Chera Tar, both penned by Tulsi Lahiri. Pathik was based on Rober Emmet Sherwood's The Petrified Forest. He, alongside Sabitabrata Dutta and Santosh Dutta formed a theatre group named Anandam.^[14]

In 1952, Sabitabrata Dutta^[a] advised Kumar to audition for Amit Ray in Madhu Bose's directorial venture Shesher Kabita (1953), based on Tagore's Shesher Kabita (1929).^[8] Kumar successfully auditioned for this role in Calcutta Movietone Studio. He was cast alongside Dipti Roy portraying the role of Labanya.^[15] The screenplay of the film was written by Nripendra Krishna Chatteejee.^[16] Though the film was a moderate success at the box office, it catapulted Kumar to stardom.^[17][18]

Imagine my guts when I instantly said yes the moment he asked if I can play Amit Ray. “What’s there not to play Amit Ray? Of course, I can,” I said. Madhu Bose was stumped by my confidence and told Jhonu^[b] that on every earlier occasion, anyone who was given this offer had said he needed time to think over the proposal. And here was someone who was ready instantly. He then asked if I was ready to read any book he gave me. He handed over an excerpt from Rabindra Rachanabali and asked me to read it aloud.

Following the success of Shesher Kabita, Kumar appeared in a string of Bengali films including Sushil Majumdar's Bhangagara (1954), Bikash Roy's Ardhangini (1955), Chitta Basu's Drishti (1955), Kartik Chattopadhyaay's Godhuli (1955), Naresh Mitra's Kalindi (1955), Ajoy Kar's Paresh (1955) and Tapan Sinha's Upahar (1955). He would continue to collaborate with Tapan Sinha in thirteen more films including Louhakapat (1958), Kshaniker Atithi (1959), Apanjan (1968), Ekhoni (1971), Aandhar Periye (1973), Raja (1975), Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1979), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), Adalat o Ekti Meye (1982), Baidurya Rahasya (1985), Atanka (1986), Antardhan (1992) and Ajab Gayer Ajab Katha (1998). He collaborated with Rituparno Ghosh in Dahan (1998).

Kumar collaborated with most of the iconic actresses of his time. He collaborated with Kaberi Bose in Chitta Basu's Drishti (1955). In Gobinda Ray's biographical drama Thakur Haridas (1959), he played Haridas Thakur alongside Sumitra Devi portraying the role of Lakshaheera.^[12] He starred as Gahar Gosai opposite Suchitra Sen playing the titular role in Harisadhan Dasgupta's Kamallata (1969).^[19]

He also featured opposite Arundhati Devi in Godhuli (1955), Chalachal (1956) and Janmantar (1959), Sabitri Chatterjee in Paresh (1955) and Upahar (1955), Supriya Devi in Kono Ekdin (1960), Bishkanya (1961), Abhisarika (1962), Dui Nari (1963) and Harano Prem (1966), Tanuja in Dolna (1965),^[20] Sumita Sanyal in Apanjan (1968) and Madhabi Mukherjee in Bindur Chhele (1973), Bon Palashir Padabali (1973) and Subarnalata (1981).^[21]