Salute to Rabi Thakur, mystic poet of India

The fondness with which Rabindranath Tagore is being remembered all across the country and the fact that National Film Development Corporation has taken the initiative to bring out from its archives 7 classical hits made on stories written by Gurudev, as he was christened by Mahatma Gandhi underlines the esteem that this great poet continues to have in our hearts. How many of us are aware about the fact the more than 130 works of Rabindranath tagore, be it stories, or novels have been provided a cinematic interpretation, to be very frank, Bengali cinema would not have been the same had Rabindranath Tagore not been a shinning beacon of this language.

No wonder, one of the biggest showmen alive in Hindi cinema, Subhash Ghai has also been bitten by Tagore's charm. He produced a film in Bengali which was directed by Rituparno Ghosh NOUKABANDI which has been released in Hindi as KASHMAKASH coinciding with the 150th birth centenary of Gurudev. Incidentally Gulzar has translated two of the songs written by Tagore in Bengali version, and it would be interesting to see, how Gulzar has interpreted Tagore in his own imitable manner. It is Rituparno Ghosh's second offering after his 2003 film CHOKER BALI which again was made in Hindi as well, based on the story written by Tagore. Incidentally, apart from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Raveena Tandon is the third female actor who has played the character based on a Tagore story, second one being Shabana Azmi who played a major role in Tapan Sinha's film DAUGHTER OF THE CENTURY. Name of the film in de-glamorised roles that Raveena Tandon ever played in her acting career.

Indeed, the famous DO BIGHA ZAMEEN, which made Balraj Sahni one of the most illustrious actors in Hindi film industry was adopted by Bimal Roy from a poem written by Tagore, Dui Bigha Zameen, and it is one of the cult films in Hindi cinema. In the same vein can one refer to KABULIWALA as well, which made Balraj Sahni one of the most powerful performers ever to grace silver screen in Hindi cinema.

Now that Subhash Ghai has rediscovered Rabindranath tagore, more such offerings should come into future that would underline the intellectual prowess of Rabindranath tagore, and inform the country about his range, present reference point for Gurudev being the national anthem in most of the cases.