TAGORE AND CINEMA!

Rabindranatha Tagore in he made Bengali film 'Natir Puja' (1932).

It's a 158th Birth Anniversary of 'Nobel Prize' winner our Indian Author Rabindranatha Tagore!

Balraj Sahni & Baby Sonu in Bimal Roy's 'Kabuliwala' (1961).

On this occasion I recollecting films made on his novels and short stories. Almost 25 films made on his literature..among which 15 were in Bengali & 10 in Hindi! In these some notable are..

Aparna Sen in Ray's Bengali film 'Teen Kanya' (1961)

In 1927 film 'Sacrifice' (Balidaan) made on his literature. And in 1932 Tagore himself made Bengali film 'Natir Puja' on his own story! Then Naresh Mitra made two films 'Gora' (1938) and 'Bou Thakuranir' (1953) on Tagore's short stories in Bengali. 
After that his sensitive novel 'Kabuliwala' came on screen..
in 1957 Tapan Sinha made it in Bengali and then in 1961 Bimal Roy made it in Hindi..in which Balraj Sahni portrayed that character intensely!

Then our great filmmaker Satyajit Ray sensibly made films. In this first was 'Teen Kanya' (1961) includes three episodes of three short stories by Tagore.. 'Postmaster', 'Monihaara' and Samapti' in which Aparna Sen played the role of tomboyish teenager superbly! After that Ray's own favourite 'Charulata' (1964) which nicely portrayed by Madhabi Mukherjee. And third was 'Ghare Baire' (1985). All were in Bengali only! Then 'Rajshree's Hindi film 'Upahaar' (1971) was again on Tagore's short story 'Samapti'..which was directed by Sudhendu Roy and Jaya Bhaduri played that character..earlier Aparna did!

Prosenjit Chatterjee and Raima Sen in..

Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film 'Noukadubi' (2011).

Meanwhile Tagore's famous novel 'Noukadubi' came on screen by his cinematographer & filmmaker Nitin Bose. In 1946 he first made Hindi film 'Milan' in which Dilip Kumar & Mira Misra acted and in 1947 remade Bengali with same name. After many years in 2011 Rituparno Ghosh made it in both the languages..first with same name in Bengali and in Hindi 'Kashmakash'! Prosenjit Chatterjee & Raima Sen acted in that film. Before that Rituparno also made Bengali 'Chokher Bali' (2003) on Tagore's novel..in which Aishwarya Rai portrayed that character!

Aishwarya Rai in Rituparno Ghosh's film 'Chokher Bali' (2003)

Gulzar's famous Hindi movie 'Lekin' (1991) was also based on Tagore's story 'Kshudhit Pashaan'. Dimple Kapadia beautifully portrayed her role in it! Then our new wave cinema fame Kumar Shahani made Hindi film 'Char Adhyay' (1997). Apart from all such films..on small screen also in 2015 Anurag Basu made TV serial 'Stories by Rabindranath Tagore'!

A Tribute!!

- Manoj Kulkarni
  ['Chitrasrushti']