Today marks the 161st birth anniversary of the great Indian poet, writer, philosopher, painter, and India’s first Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore. Time and again, many films and shows have been made which are based on the works of the legendry polymath. For this article, we have compiled a list of five such movies and shows you can watch on various Indian OTT platforms.
Chokher Bali, 2003 (Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, Hoichoi)
Helmed by late Indian filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, the film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1903 novel of the same name. Set in the early 1900s period, the love quadrangle follows the story of a distressed widow named Binodini (Aishwarya Rai), who begins to live with Rajlakshmi and her son Mahendra (Prosenjit Chatterjee), who is married to Ashalata (Raima Sen). However, Mahendra starts getting attracted to Binodini, leading to several complications in the relationship.
Noukadubi / Kashmakash, 2011 (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Zee5)
The film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1906 novel of the same name. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the story follows a law student Ramesh, who is coerced into marrying a widow’s daughter Susheela despite already being in love with Hemnalini. He leaves for Kolkata with his new bride on a boat, which overturns after a storm. He survives the accident and returns to Kolkata with the woman. But later he finds out that the woman living with him is not his wife, but another bride named Kamala.
Darbaan, 2020 (Streaming on Zee5)
The film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1918 short story ‘Khokababur Pratyabartan’. The story is about a loyal caretaker Raicharan (Sharib Hashmi) and his endearing relationship with Anukul’s (Sharad Kelkar) son. But when Anukul’s son goes missing one day, Raicharan is held responsible for the unfortunate incident. Years later, the guilt-ridden manservant commits an unthinkable sacrifice to compensate for his master’s loss.
Bioscopewala, 2017 (Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar)
An adaptation, or rather, an extension of Rabindranath Tagore’s 1892 short story ‘Kabuliwala’, the film is set during the 1980s period. It features veteran actor Danny Denzongpa as Rehmat Khan, a Kabul merchant to visits Kolkata every year for selling dry fruits. He befriends a 5-year-old girl Minnie, who is fond of Rehmat’s bioscope shows. Years later, a now grown-up Minnie meets the Bioscopewala once again while investigating her father’s death following a plane crash.
Stories by Rabindranath Tagore, 2015 (Streaming on Netflix, Hoichoi, Epic ON)
Helmed by Anurag Basu (Director – Barfi, Ludo), the series is a collection of tales based on some classic stories by Rabindranath Tagore like ‘Atithi’, ‘Chokher Bali’, ‘Detective’, and ‘Broken Nest’, etc. The film takes place in early 20th century Bengal and features Radhika Apte, Sumeet Vyas, and Amrita Puri, amongst other cast members.
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