Last year, over a few weeks, I watched this series on Netflix – Stories by Rabindranath Tagore. It is an adaptation of some of the best short stories by Tagore spread over 26 episodes and directed by Anurag Basu. It captures the ethos of Bengal during that time in its characters, settings and narration. The aesthetics of the episodes takes you back in time when these wonderful stories were written.
It is very well-made, more so because these are stories not easy to adapt from the written word to the spoken. Tagore’s stories are not action-packed thrillers or fantasies where a lot happens, but a slow reflection of characters, a voice that needs to be felt.
I had read somewhere that when you read a book, many movies plays in your head, while when you watch a movie, only one story is shown to you – that’s why we often say that the book was better than the movie.
But in this case, I was glad that the best short stories by Tagore have moved from the page to the screen without losing a lot of their original lilting effect.
Here I list the selected ones that I liked the most.
Atithi: I started with this, though this is episode 4. It is a very interesting adaptation of a nomadic, curious, exploring character Tara who runs away from home, and his given shelter by a zamindar. His daughter starts dreaming about a life with Tara, and how it all unfolds is very nicely shown – no heroes, no villains in this one.
Kabuliwala: How can this story not be there? Despite the high expectations from this popular Tagore tale, I must say it is a very well-made sensitive episode of a story spread over many years. The relation between the Kabuliwala and the narrator’s daughter, and how it is all fleeting for the man who returns on the day of her marriage is depicted so as to leave a sympathetic tear in your eye.
The Broken Nest: This was a story I hadn’t read before. The tenuous (or strong) relationship floating between a workaholic husband who dreams of running a newspaper, his lonely wife who loves music, and the younger brother of the husband who is a musician (and called by the husband himself to give company to his wife) is tense. The emotional crisis that unfolds is something to watch.
Samapti: This was another story of a strong woman character that is characteristic of many Tagore tales. In most stories while the antagonist for a strong woman is society or a man, in this, it is her mother-in-law. A man rejects his mother’s choice and marries a tomboyish, self-driven girl. This story tells what she faces in the form of her mother-in-law. An age-old concept, well told.
Tyaag: Stories about the struggle between caste and romantic love are not new, but this one adapted from Tagore’s complex tale of a struggle faced by a man who marries a low caste woman thinking she is not, and the girl who feels obligated to tell him the truth has many layers to it. Many characters such as the fathers of both and others add to the realistic nature. We keep wondering who won.
Two Sisters: This story (which is more like a novella) must have been truly ahead of its times. It is about a man and two women – he is married to the elder sister who is the motherly type, and her younger sister who is the romantic type. This basic conflict is explored, quite explicitly, in this story with a turn of events and many related characters. Eventually, it is the strong woman characters that you remember.
Mrinal Ki Chitthi: This is a brilliant story about a strong woman who is a writer, and trapped in a marriage to a man with backward views. A tale of how she uses her writing skills to bring about change is fascinating. This is not an easy story to adapt as it is so much about the written word. But it has been adapted so well, that it is perhaps one of the top 3.
Chokher Bali: Not a short story, but actually a novel and so takes three episodes (the first 3 which I watched last). The complex story of the young widow Binodini and her strong free-spirited life in an environment of patriarchy, child marriage and suppression is well depicted. This is the story of Binodini, her hidden desires and twisted maneuvers, her relations with Mahendra (her muse before marriage) and Bihari, and how it all unfolds. A novel ahead of its times, but the ethos has been well captured. Great watch, only if you don’t compare it to other adaptations of this story.
There are other stories too, which I have not included, but these were the ones I liked the most. You may like some of the others.
So overall, this is a great series. I am simply glad that short stories of Tagore have got an audience in the age of OTT. If you get a chance and want to explore the literature of Tagore on screen, whether you have read it in book format or not, watch this series.
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