Rabindranath Tagore (film)

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Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (short film, 1961) title card
Title card of the film
Directed bySatyajit Ray
Written bySatyajit Ray
Screenplay bySatyajit Ray
Based onLife and works of Rabindranath Tagore
Produced byFilms Division of India
StarringRaya Chatterjee,
Sovanlal Ganguli,
Smaran Ghosal,
Purnendu Mukherjee,
Kallol Bose,
Subir Bose,
Phani Nan,
Norman Ellis
Narrated bySatyajit Ray
CinematographySoumendu Roy
Edited byDulal Dutta
Music byJyotirindra Moitra
Distributed byFilms Division of India
Release date
  • 1961 (1961)
Running time
54 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageEnglish

Rabindranath Tagore is a 1961 Indian documentary film written and directed by Satyajit Ray about the life and works of noted Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore.[1] Ray started working on the documentary in early 1958. Shot in black-and-white, the finished film was released during the birth centenary year of Rabindranath Tagore, who was born on 7 May 1861.[2] Ray avoided the controversial aspects of Tagore's life in order to make it as an official portrait of the poet. Though Tagore was known as a poet, Ray did not use any of Tagore's poetry as he was not happy with the English translation and believed that "it would not make the right impression if recited" and people would not consider Tagore "a very great poet," based on those translations.[3] Satyajit Ray has been reported to have said about the documentary Rabindranath Tagore in his biography Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye by W. Andrew Robinson that, "Ten or twelve minutes of it are among the most moving and powerful things that I have produced."[3]

Often regarded as

Amar Shonar Bangla" were adopted in 1972 as the Bangladesh's national anthem.[6] Incidentally, Sri Lanka's national anthem "Sri Lanka Matha" was written and composed by Tagore's student, Ananda Samarakoon.[7]

Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation, took an initiative to restore Satyajit Ray's films and could successfully restore 19 Ray films, Rabindranath Tagore is restored though its original print was found to be badly damaged.[8][9] The film's original script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray.[10]

Background

Rabindranath Tagore
Main article: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861 to

Upanishadic ideals of education.[11] He also participated in the Indian independence movement. Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. He was awarded for his collections of poems, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), which included 103 poems with his own English translations of his Bengali poems. In 1915, the British Crown granted Tagore a knighthood. He renounced it after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.[12]
At the age of 80, Tagore died on 7 August 1941 in his ancestral home in Calcutta.

Synopsis

Narrated by

Raja Rammohun Roy
and introduces some of his children out of fourteen, it moves to the birth of child Rabindranath Tagore, fondly called as "Robi". The film then narrates Robi's initial schooling days, his trip to northern India with his father, publication of his first poem in his father's magazine and his failed attempt for higher education at London.

The documentary showcases some of the scenes of Tagore's first drama-opera,

Knighthood
in 1915.

While showcasing Tagore's formation of

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
. The documentary ends while mentioning about Tagore's last days, his last message to the world Civilization in Crisis and his death at his birthplace at the age of 80 on 7 August 1941.

Credits

Cast

  • Raya Chatterjee
  • Smaran Ghosal
  • Purnendu Mukherjee
  • Kallol Bose
  • Subir Bose
  • Phani Nan
  • Norman Ellis

Crew

  • Narrator: Satyajit Ray
  • Editor: Dulal Dutta
  • Production controller:
    Anil Chowdhury
  • Art direction: Bansi Chandragupta
  • Sound designer: Sujit Sarkar
  • Cinematographer: Soumendu Roy
  • Music direction: Jyotirindra Moitra
  • Make-up: Sakti Sen
  • Sound recording: Satyen Chatterjee and Durgadas Mitra

Restoration

After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Satyajit Ray an honorary Academy Award in 1992 for his lifetime achievements,[13] the Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation which mainly works with the objectives as "preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition and study of motion pictures", took an initiative to restore and preserve Ray's films.[14] Josef Lindner was appointed as a preservation officer and as of October 2010 the Academy has successfully restored 19 titles. However, the documentary Rabindranath Tagore was found to be badly damaged.[8]

In media

Satyajit Ray has been reported to have said about the documentary Rabindranath Tagore in his biography Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye by W. Andrew Robinson that, "Ten or twelve minutes of it are among the most moving and powerful things that I have produced".[3] At "Ray Festival 2009", Satyajit Ray Society screened Rabindranath Tagore along with other three Ray documentaries, namely Two, The Inner Eye and Sukumar Ray on 7 May 2009. The film was also shown at 51st Valladolid International Film Festival along with other seven Ray films.[15] The film's original script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray along with an ex-CEO of Ray Society, Aditinath Sarkar, which also included original scripts of Ray's other films.[10][16]

Awards

National Film Awards (India)
Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland
)
Montevideo Film Festival (Uruguay)
  • Montevideo Film Festival (1962): Special Mention[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Rabindranath [email protected]". Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  2. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore profile@The Open University". Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  3. ^
    ISBN 1860649653
    .
  4. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore: Facts". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  5. ^ "National Anthem of India". Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Bangladesh: Amar Shonar Bangla". NationalAnthems.me. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Matha". NationalAnthems.me. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Saving a legacy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  9. ^ Rabindranath Tagore 1961 HD Remastered | Satyajit Ray | Documentary, 29 October 2022, retrieved 3 October 2023
  10. ^ a b Nag, Ashoke (9 April 2011). "Satyajit Ray: Saluting the auteur". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  11. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore profile@nobel". Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore profile@calcuttaweb". Archived from the original on 1 November 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  13. ^ "The 64th Academy Awards (1992)". oscars.org. 30 March 1992. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  14. ^ "About the Academy Film Archive". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  15. ^ "News: Film, Music and [email protected]". Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  16. ISBN 978-8180280016
    .
  17. ^ "9th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  18. ^ "Golden Sail, Short Films". pardo.ch. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2013.

External links

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