Tagore`s `Char Adhyay` to be filmed in Bengali

One of the classics of Rabindranath Tagore `Char Adhyay`, set against the backdrop of the freedom movement of the 1930s, will be turned into a feature film on the 150th birth anniversary of the poet.

Award-winning filmmaker Bappaditya Bandyopadhyay, who will direct the film, said the subject has relevance for today`s generation which is witness to the Naxalite unrest in Jangalmahal.

Bandyopadhyay told reporters, "I have been dreaming of committing `Char Adhyay` (Four Chapters) to celluloid since 2006."

Eminent director Kumar Shahani had earlier directed `Char Adhyay` in Hindi starring Nandini Goshal (Ela) and Sumant Chattopadhyay (Atin), but Bandyopadhyay said he would interpret it in a different way.

"My interpretation will be different. The tale had intrigued me both as a reader and a filmmaker for long," Bandyopadhyay said.

With the title of the film `Char Adhyay` already bought by a Bengali director sometime back, Bandyopadhyay`s working title will be `Four Chapters`.

He, however, said he was sure it would not be much of a problem with the relaxation of copyright rules on Tagore`s works about a decade back.

The novel, which depicted weaknesses of armed rebellion against the British raj, showed Tagore`s emphasis on the humane side of the revolutionary movement, though the dramatist never hesitated to raise his unqualified protest against British colonialism.

The director`s very first feature film `Sampradan` (Offering of the Daughter) was selected in the competitive section of the 6th Dhaka International Film Festival, 2000, said.

While Ela`s character will be essayed by Tollywood star Paoli Dam, who had earlier turned up in Bandyopadhyay`s critically acclaimed "Kagazer Bou" and `Chhatrak` (Mushroom) by a Sri Lankan director, the director is in the process of selecting her opposite lead (Atin).

Bandyopadhyay`s `Kantatar` and `Kaal` had brought to focus the burning contemporary issues of migration and trafficking of women respectively.

"While these two films dealt with the contemporary issues of infiltration and sex trade, Char Adhyay will be contemporary in approach and period in treatment," he said.

Though Bandyopadhyay`s `Silpantar` (Colours of Hunger) had been premiered at the Sofia International Film Festival and selected at the 2003 Helsinki International Film Festival, the films did not find many takers among the local audience.

"I think while my earlier films suffered due to distribution glitches, the audience response to new-look Bengali films have also changed a lot in the last two years or so. I think a new genre of Hindi films by a crop of new
directors blazed a trail and the trend has caught up in Bengali cinema too. The success of quite a few Bengali films by young directors testifies to that."

On making Hindi-English films, Bandyopadhyay, whose Hindi-English film `Devaki` made in 2006 was screened at the Indian Ocean section of the 7th Osian`s Cinefan Film Festival, was, however, not ready to make another Hindi-English film immediately.

"Making a Hindi-English film entails proper distribution network in other cities which has to be backed by a powerful production house," he said.