Pradyut Kumar Pal shows his collection of booklet covers of Uttam Kumar films. Picture by Sudeshna Banerjee

Lighting up the sombre environs of the cash section of the Port Trust of India office is the smiling face of Uttam Kumar. If you wonder why the framed photograph has been put up in this office, read the caption —cashier theke superstar (from cashier to superstar). Yes, Bengal’s matinee idol, who turned 84 on Friday, worked here before the arc lights led him away. Now an employee of the same department is paying a unique tribute to his predecessor’s screen achievements.

“It is my privilege that I do the same work that Uttam Kumar did, sitting in the same room,” says Pradyut Kumar Pal, senior cash clerk, who has scanned the booklet covers of all Uttam Kumar films and designed them as an album. “These booklets used to be sold in those days at movie halls. Priced two paise to an anna, they would have the gist of the film’s plot, the cast and crew, the lyrics of the songs etc,” says the bearded Pal, whose labour of love chronicles Uttam’s journey from the sepia-tinted Drishtidaan of 1948 to the last release, Ogo Bodhu Sundari, of 1980.

“I had about 60 per cent of these booklets at home. The rest I acquired from Prof Dipankar Chatterjee — he had sung songs composed by Uttam Kumar — and two other people,” says Pal.

The seed of the collection was sown by his grandmother in Hatibagan. The passion was inherited by his mother Dipti Pal, now 82. Speaking from her Howrah home, the octogenarian recalls: “Ma used to see films with Didima. Then I started going with her. But the bulk of the Uttam films I saw after marriage. We had a film-going threesome — me, my nonod and my ja (sisters-in-law).”

And when it came to an Uttam film, the only show the trio would settle for was first day first show. “The ushers of all the halls in Howrah knew us so well that once for Sonar Horin (1959), though it was a full house at Mayapuri, they let us in and gave us their own stools. The three of us took turns to sit on the two stools,” says the lady, who remembers not liking Uttam in Kamona (his second film) but appreciated him two years later in Sahajatri. Pal took over from her for the later films.

Leafing through the pages reveals eye-catching trivia. “Desh Premee of 1982 is the only film where Amitabh Bachchan and Uttam Kumar are together. Here is one featuring Uttam with Raj Kapoor in Ananda Sangbad. The film never released….”

Pal takes the greatest pride in displaying the first two pages — featuring films from Drishtidaan to Basu Paribar, his first big hit. “These are the years from 1944 to 1952 when he was still working for us. Disbursing cash is no mean task as a single bill may have 200-300 claimants. Colleagues like Biren Dey used to do his share alongside their own when he was away shooting.”

Uttam Kumar’s autobiography mentions how tough a decision it was for him to quit a job that he had got after much effort, thanks to his uncle’s connections. “Even at the height of his stardom, he would stop the car to speak to Birenda if their paths crossed.”

Pal has added an invaluable document to his work — a receipt, dated August 19, 1947, in the name of Arun Kumar Chatterjee of Rs 1,000 that those handling cash had to pay as security deposit. “It was a search for a needle in a haystack. But I did find it in a room piled with files. There was so much dust that I had to wash my hand at least 20 times afterwards.”

The man, who had managed to place a wreath at his dead idol’s feet through a sea of mourners, wants to gift his collection to the Uttam Kumar museum that he has heard is being planned by Mamata Banerjee.

“He may be Uttam Kumar to the world. But for us, he will always be Arun,” he says.

nUttam Kumar archive: The state government has decided to set up an archive of Uttam Kumar’s films at Chalachchitra Shatabarshiki Bhavan in Tollygunge. The minister of state for information and cultural affairs, Anjan Bera, announced the archive at Writers’ Buildings on Friday, the actor’s birth anniversary.