Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

Stories by Rabindranath Tagore
Genre	Fiction
Directed by	Anurag Basu, Debatma Mandal & Tani Basu
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Location(s)	Mumbai
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Ishana Movies Pvt. Ltd
Release
Original network	Epic Channel Networks Pvt. Ltd.
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	6 July 2015 (2015-07-06)
External links
Website

Stories by Rabindranath Tagore is an Indian Hindi television series which aired on The EPIC Channel. The EPIC Channel is India’s first segmented Hindi entertainment channel on the topic of Indian history and mythology.^[1]

Set in Bengal of the 1920s, the show is a representation of the classic short stories by the literary legend and Nobel laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. In his literary work, Tagore focused on relationships which were colored by human shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. More often than not, confident women were the protagonists of his stories who were strong in their stead and defiant in nature while cocooned in a conservative Indian society. In a culture where adultery, rebellion, sorrow and death were a taboo, Tagore’s stories were progressive and brought a shift in the mindset of traditional Indian values.^[2]

Bringing Tagore’s stories to life is the acclaimed Indian film director, Anurag Basu who is renowned for his distinctive stories and visual story-telling in films.^[3] Basu began his career as an assistant director in television serials. He directed television shows belonging to various genres and went on to make films that received immense audience and critical appreciation, establishing himself as a successful Indian film director. After a long hiatus from television, Basu made a comeback to television with Stories by Rabindranath Tagore.^[4][5]

Background

The show launched on 6 July 2015 on The EPIC Channel. In ‘Stories By Rabindranath Tagore’, Anurag Basu chose to translate the stories in his own way. He handpicked different stories like Chokher Bali, Charulata, Kabuliwala, Detective, Samapti, Chutti, etc. and created a unique background score for them. The show devoted two or three episodes to each novel, while short stories were narrated in a single episode. The director chose a unique way for these stories to unfold — each story was linked with the next in an intrinsic manner and the narration was blended with translations of Tagore's songs. The show covered over 14 stories in 26 episodes, each episode duration being 60 minutes.^[6]

Production and promotion

The show is set in old Kolkata. Basu produced a colossal set, and also filmed on location and used authentic costumes. Basu’s wife, Tani Basu, led the creative development of the show to delve deeper into cultural references and political and social manifestations. Original music score and Tagore’s Bengali songs were re-created to further enhance the appeal of the show. Indian singers like Arijit Singh, Shaan and Shalmali Kholgade lent their voices for these melodious soundtracks. ^[7]

The EPIC Channel developed a marketing campaign ‘Epic at 10’ to fortify the show’s time-slot. A mnemonic was established to signify the show’s airing slot of 10 pm. Innovative marketing initiatives were taken to create awareness such as Twitter Alarm, Epic at 10 contest on social media, Live Twitter chats with Anurag Basu, Special screenings for the media, and so on.^[8]

Stories

Episode 1,2,3. Chokher Bali
Episode 4. Atithi
Episode 5. Maanbhanjan
Episode 6. Detective
Episode 7. Kabuliwala
Episode 8. Punishment
Episode 9,10. Broken Nest
Episode 11. Wafadaar
Episode 12,13. Samapti
Episode 14. Chhooti
Episode 15. Tyaag
Episode 16. Waaris
Episode 17,18. Two Sisters
Episode 19. Mrinal ki Chitthi
Episode 20. Aparichita
Episode 21. Kankal
Episode 22. The Story of a Muslim Girl
Episode 23,24. Dhai Aakhar Prem Ka
Episode 25. Monihara
Episode 26. Dalia

Cast

• Radhika Apte as Binodini (Episode - Chokher Bali)
• Bhanu Uday as Mahendra (Episode- Chokher Bali)
• Tara Alisha Berry as Ashalata (Episode- Chokher Bali)
• Sumeet Vyas as Bihari (Episode- Chokher Bali)
• Rohan Shah as Tarapado (Episode- Atithi)
• Amrita Puri as Charulata (Episode- Broken Nest)
• Rahul Bagga as Amol (Episode- Broken Nest)
• Joy Sengupta as Raicharan
• Chandan Anand
• Jannat Zubair Rahmani as Bindu (Episode - Mrinal Ki Chitthi)
• Anupriya Goenka
• Abigail Jain as Kalyani (Episode - Aparichita)
• Shubhangi Atre Poorey
• Jayshree Venkatramanan as Urmi (Episode - Two Sisters)

Reception

Deccan Herald - "Basu’s direction of Stories from Rabindranath Tagore is especially charming in its portrayal of the Bengali milieu of those times. From the clothes worn by the protagonists (especially the women in their puff-sleeved, lace-trimmed blouses and the saris worn the Bengali way) to the period furniture and the locales, everything is picture-perfect, as is the casual dropping of Bengali words."^[1]

DNA- "What makes the serial is the lighting, so canny that it becomes both narrator and character. In an amber chiaroscuro of a bygone era it details a range of moods from the stark to the tender. Basu has achieved a fine balance between the populist and the elite.^[9]

Business Standard - "While most of us have read Tagore, to see iconic stories such as Kabuliwala come to life is a different pleasure altogether. Moreover, the women in Tagore's stories are not scheming vessels of family politics. There is diversity of representation and each story is nuanced with many shades of grey. Basu has said in an interview that he was so tired of watching women on Indian TV that he jumped at the chance of adapting Tagore."

The Indian Express praised the show in the article, "Tagore’s stories have a strange sense of gender equality: Anurag Basu" ^[10] and spoke about Anurag Basu’s brilliance and the genre-defying format of the show.

References

External links

• Official Website: The EPIC Channel