Rabindranath Tagore (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Rabindranath Tagore
Country of production India
original language English
Publishing year 1961
length 52 minutes
Rod
Director Satyajit Ray
script Satyajit Ray
production Films Division
music Jyotirindra Moitra
camera Soumendu Roy
cut Dulal Dutta
occupation

Rabindranath Tagore is a semi-documentary film directed by Satyajit Ray . Like the episodic film Teen Kanya, it was made on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's 100th birthday in May 1961.

action

Beginning with recordings of the funeral procession for Rabindranath Tagore's corpse in 1941, the documentation deals with the stages of his life and his work embedded in historical events of the time.

Based on Rabindranath's family history, childhood and youth, the beginning of his literary activity and his encounter with European music are presented. Rabindranath retired to the countryside and in 1901 to Shantiniketan , where he later founded his educational institution. This is followed by important events such as the partition of Bengal in 1905 , the presentation of his own translation of Gitanjali in England in 1912, the Nobel Prize in the following year, his appointment as a knight in 1915, the Amritsar massacre in 1919 and the return of the knighthood to the British king. In the 1920s, Rabindranath began traveling around the world, during which he made numerous contacts with Western intellectuals and exhibited his paintings. The documentation ends with the last ten years of his life in Shantiniketan, of which several original recordings are available.

background

Rabindranath Tagore was Ray's first documentary work. In early 1958, he spoke to representatives of the central government about this project, which was eventually produced by the government's film department. The aim was a worthy portrait of the Indian national poet - controversial aspects of himself such as his initial admiration for Mussolini , his divided relationship with the Bengali public or the suicide of his sister-in-law were deliberately left out. Ray also refrained from including interviews with companions who would have been easy to get 20 years after Tagore. The film is spoken with original English commentary by Satyajit Ray, as this film should be understood in all parts of India. Since Ray did not think that the translation of Tagor's poetry into English was very successful, he decided not to recite Tagore's poems. In the absence of sufficient documentary film material, Ray sometimes resorted to re-enacted episodes from Tagore's life. Paintings, photographs and other documents are also shown.

Unique testimonies in this documentary include a reconstruction of Rabindranath's opera Balmiki Pratibha and two short recordings of Rabindranath Tagore's original feminine voice - a description of impressions of nature when he stayed with his brother and sister-in-law, and a piece of the song Tobu mone rekho .

Bansi Chandragupta was the production designer for the game scenes .

literature

  • Andrew Robinson: Satyajit Ray - The Inner Eye , revised edition 2004, pp. 274, 277-279
  • Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema, New Delhi 1999, p. 370

Web links