Alternate Best Actor 1966: Uttam Kumar in Nayak

Uttam Kumar did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Arindam Mukherjee in Nayak. 

Nayak is a great film about a movie star reflecting upon his path to his success while on a long train ride. The film works both as a great character study of this man and also as an often biting commentary on Bollywood by Satyajit Ray. It frankly is one of the very best films where a filmmaker comments on the film. This as it manages to delve quite deeply into its central examination while also having the right levity that avoids the questionable navel-gazing of similar endeavors.  

Uttam Kumar in the central role must play many different shades of this character, though the one we meet most frequently is the man on the train. Where Arindam has become fully established as a star and now just has to deal with essentially being the most famous person wherever he may be. On the surface, the other passengers on the train see him as Kumar delivers the sort of star presence you'd want and expect from such a figure. There is the innate larger-than-life kind of shyness oddly enough within his performance that is fitting for someone who has a level of discomfort in his fame. Kumar's performance exudes the sort of needed tempered charisma in his performance in showing the man looking away often, or looking down within his sunglasses, to not be the center of attention even if his nature seems to force himself to be. Kumar is captivating in the right unassuming way. This with the sort of reluctance to be the star, yet the evidence of his stardom is there even as he tries to hide it in his own way. 

We see the sheer charisma in Kumar's portrayal of  Arindam on the train but so well wielded here. This as Kumar has this natural quality in every moment of interaction as everyone is impressed by him, while also having their own sort of perspective and means about it. Of course, when asked for an autograph or complicated, Kumar finds this effortless and really quite a perfect combination of the manner in reaction. There is that bit of shyness about it, but also the natural graciousness. He has that innate likability of a star that is easy to see his power in the public consciousness even if there is that degree of reluctance about him. One of the best moments of his performance though is the woman who approaches to get his autograph, Aditi Sengupta (Sharmila Tagore). The graciousness we see leave as she indicates that she is from a magazine, and Kumar's delivery of Arindam questioning if she is a reporter, is perfection. Kumar articulates this quiet frustration of a man whose words have likely been twisted in the past and almost sees press workers as hounds feeding off him. It is only after she reveals her magazine is not film-related that we see this manner ease back a little, though there is a guardedness that Kumar brings in his overly formal way at the beginning of her interview. 

Kumar is amazing though as he begins to articulate his life more so including his state as the "hero" to the public and how fickle his situation is. Kumar delights though in speaking his truth with an affable bluntness within the man willing to speak towards his difficult situation while seeming to shake off the deeper questioning at first. We see him as the man on the train and Kumar is wonderful. I think he makes the right choice in being so personable that is both who he is, yet also this fashioned facade necessary to be the star. He isn't false, yet he's also not wholly genuine. Kumar realizes this really just through his eyes in a way this as there is this knowing quality of the man, knowing his position, to the point he must examine his surroundings in a kind of peculiar way while trying to be genuine still as a man. Although this man is filled with anxieties. 

The anxieties are realized throughout though most obviously at first in a brilliant dream sequence where Arindam walks around in joys in the literal riches of the paper currency filling his mind before it begins to actually devour him. Kumar's performance so powerfully shows the superficial joy that quickly switches to existential horror as he is pulled down while an old friend of his looks on without lending any help. After this, and in his next conversation with Aditi, Kumar reveals a more honest man in so many ways. There isn't the obvious attempt at charm, rather the fixation upon his mind even if he tries to laugh it off. This begins his revelations of the past, as he reveals the point he took on his first role in a film as "the hero". Kumar is excellent in crafting such a younger man not in age, but in nature. There isn't the "weight" of success, but rather the weight of ambition that Kumar so embodies. The charisma is reduced and we just see the young man filled with conflict even in this decision though as he is advised against the career as merely a "film actor". 

The film recounts as he goes through his history as an actor and rises to prominence through a series of reflections. Including his early days as a supporting actor to the established star, a stodgy wooden actor with an ego. Kumar is great in this singular scene in doing a few things at once. What we see though is a definite sense of personal conviction as Arindam considers his lines and the actual purpose of his character. There is the concentration and ambition in his work, just as there isn't quite the achievement yet. He shows articulately though the young actor fashioning his technique and not really all that amused by the older actor flaunting his clumsy so-called talents in front of him, though Arindam is in the position that still requires him to defer to the man, at first. The conflict of his earlier times though subsides when on set with the needed confidence of an up and comer. Kumar portrays the confidence needed to become the star he desires to be, even if the sense of the inexperienced youth is still there. This as he responds to the old man with nervousness even as approaches his role with that conviction. 

Kumar is exceptional in the following chronological scene of Arindam pondering the situation of the older actor attempting to "sabotage" his performance while he begins to drink for the first time. Kumar brings this assurance of self in his delivery of the man's technique and understanding of film acting. It is with a sincere passion he speaks every word of his frustration with the old man, and confidence in his own belief in understanding film acting. This is against though still the whole display where Kumar's movements are filled with the unease of a man unsure of his success even as he is on the precipice of it. We return to this relationship as the older actor looks for help from the now successful Arindam, and again remarkable is the ease with which Kumar shows the star in this conversation. This is as he's fully in control listening to the old man's woes now. The ambition fulfilled, and now certain ease as he dismisses the old man entirely in front of his face. 

What we see then is in his journey a man in so many ways the man compromising for his ambition, this also in his days with his friend from the dream, an activist, he once supported however in favor of his career ignored. Kumar doesn't depict a bad man in Arindam's changes rather contrasts the passion of unsure youth against that compromise that creates an older man filled with anxiety, but success. Kumar is moving in crafting with such intimate detail, even in a couple of scenes the sense of personal defeat in a way, and that now different conflict that grows. That anxiety of the man perhaps sacrificing himself in a way. Kumar brilliantly internalizes the struggle, less as this active ignorance and more so the ease of bottling up it to maintain his image. Of course, a strange, and far more duplicitous mirror reveals itself when an actress comes seeking his help only to act her way in a rather maniacal ruse to manipulate him. Kumar's reaction embodying the strangeness of the situation, but also this painful infliction as he sees the hollowness of the act, an act he arguably has engaged with, though perhaps less purposefully. Now this journey though isn't about an easy solution to better himself, nor is it about a man accepting his downfall. It is rather a powerful idea of a man just honestly coming to terms with his decisions for both and better and worse. In turn this is why I love Kumar's performance of Arindam's reflections, which are not about big changes, but the subtle shifts within the conversation with Aditi. He eases his manner, becomes more open, but also more tender in a way. Kumar eases away any facade and just shows the man of it all. He speaks his reflections with understanding to his mistakes but also the ways in which he achieved success. Kumar finds such a nuanced grace in crafting this quiet yet potent arc, of not this major change, but rather a man coming to terms with himself both his anxieties and really his accomplishments. His final moment with Aditi is just one of a simple humanity, and warmth. Kumar expresses just earnestly a sense of connection and there is such genuine power in this against his other previous interactions with others that were all influenced by his stardom in some way. The greatness of this performance and film, is the elegance both Kumar and Ray bring in this careful examination that never is one note. Rather there is a true power in Kumar's portrayal of Ray's brilliantly written part, of every facet of this man. This both the big and the small moments. The quiet and the dramatic. Kumar simply embodies every moment of Arindam's journey. This is to the point we seem to understand him as a star, as an actor, and both as a sellout, and as an honest man.