India Post releases Uttam Kumar birth-centenary commemorative stamp in Kolkata

India Post released a commemorative postage stamp in honour of Bengali screen legend Uttam Kumar on 4 September 2026, as part of the actor’s birth-centenary celebrations in Kolkata. The release took place at Rabindra Sadan and formed part of a wider programme marking 100 years since the birth of the actor widely known as the “Mahanayak” of Bengali cinema.

A fresh United News of India photo report published at 19:51 IST on 4 September confirms that the stamp was physically released by India Post at the Rabindra Sadan auditorium. The centenary programme had been announced earlier, but the actual release of the stamp is a new philatelic event within the current freshness window. Earlier reporting had indicated that the Department of Posts planned both a commemorative stamp and associated centenary material as part of the celebrations.

Uttam Kumar, born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay on 3 September 1926, became one of the defining figures of Bengali cinema. His career included celebrated collaborations with Suchitra Sen and major films such as Nayak, Harano Sur and Saptapadi. His cultural importance extends well beyond cinema history: he remains a central figure in Bengal’s popular memory and an enduring subject of retrospectives, exhibitions and scholarship.

For collectors, the issue adds a new personality and cinema-themed commemorative to modern Indian philately. It will be of particular interest to collectors of Indian film personalities, Bengal-related material, centenary issues and cultural commemoratives. Because the stamp was released during a concentrated centenary programme in Kolkata, first-day or event-cancelled material from the release venue may also attract attention if officially made available.

The fresh report confirms the release itself but does not provide the stamp denomination, print quantity, designer credit, sheet format or official first-day cancellation details. Those technical specifications remain to be confirmed from Department of Posts documentation.