Rabindranath Tagore
About Rabindranath Tagore
Satyajit Ray's English-language documentary opens on Rabindranath Tagore's funeral procession in Calcutta, then goes back through the family: Dwarkanath Tagore, Debendranath Tagore and Rammohun Roy, the boy's birth on 7 May 1861, school, a journey north with his father, a first poem in his father's magazine, and a failed stay in London. It stages moments from the opera Valmiki Pratibha, with Ray in the lead, then the marriage to Mrinalini Devi, the school at Santiniketan, the deaths in the family, the independence years, the 1913 Nobel Prize after W. B. Yeats saw the English Gitanjali, the 1915 knighthood, and the return of that title after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. Visva-Bharati, the travels to fund the school, the late paintings, the 70th-birthday Golden Book, and the message Civilization in Crisis lead to his death at the Jorasanko house on 7 August 1941.
Cast & crew
More about Rabindranath Tagore
Films Division of India produced the film. Ray wrote it, directed it, and speaks the narration. He began work in early 1958 for release in the 1961 centenary of Tagore's birth. Soumendu Roy photographed it in black and white. Dulal Dutta edited. Jyotirindra Moitra wrote the music. Bansi Chandragupta was art director. Anil Chowdhury was production controller. Ray left out disputed parts of the life and did not use Tagore's poems, because he disliked the English versions.
Themes
Background
Tagore was born on 7 May 1861. The Films Division commissioned the portrait for the hundredth year. He died at the family house in Calcutta on 7 August 1941.
In film history
The film is the official centenary portrait: the Nobel, the knighthood given back after Jallianwala Bagh, and the founding of Visva-Bharati, without the quarrels around the man.
Making
Ray acted the sage in the Valmiki Pratibha sequence rather than hire a separate player for that reconstruction.
Reviews
In W. Andrew Robinson's Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye, Ray says ten or twelve minutes of the documentary are among the most moving and powerful things he produced.
Look
Soumendu Roy shot the black-and-white film, mixing documents, the funeral, and staged scenes such as Valmiki Pratibha.
Music
Jyotirindra Moitra wrote the score. Ray speaks the English narration. He does not recite Tagore's poems.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive restored the film as one of 19 Satyajit Ray titles taken up after his 1992 honorary Academy Award. The original print was badly damaged.
Notes
- Players include Raya Chatterjee, Sovanlal Ganguli, Smaran Ghosal, Purnendu Mukherjee, Kallol Bose, Subir Bose, Phani Nan, and Norman Ellis.
- Sound was by Sujit Sarkar, with recording by Satyen Chatterjee and Durgadas Mitra. Sakti Sen did the makeup.
- In the staged Valmiki Pratibha, Western classical music is set next to raga-based songs.
- The Golden Book of Tagore, shown for the 70th birthday, gathers lines from Romain Rolland, Albert Einstein, and Gandhi among others.
- It won the President's Gold Medal for best documentary at the 9th National Film Awards, the Golden Sail for short films at Locarno in 1961, and a special mention at Montevideo in 1962.
Awards
- President's Gold Medal for Best Documentary, 9th National Film Awards (1961)
- Golden Sail for Short Films, Locarno International Film Festival (1961)
- Special Mention, Montevideo Film Festival (1962)
Scenes
- The film opens on the funeral procession through Calcutta.
- Ray plays Valmiki in a staging of Valmiki Pratibha.
- Tagore gives back the knighthood after the 1919 massacre at Jallianwala Bagh.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Rabindranath Tagore 1961 - Satyajit Ray.webm)
