This year marks Rabindranath Tagore160th birth anniversary. Some of the finest films
made by some genius filmmakers were based on Tagore stories. Today is Gurupurnima
and I wish to dedicate the blog to the biggest teacher of India whom we lovingly address
as Gurudev. He wrote short stories, novels, dramas, and recited poetry on public platforms
and there is an interesting story about how Tagore got associated with cinema.
In the early days, Tagore traveled extensively to perform and raise funds for his
university so a dance drama Notir Puja was created based on his story. During one of
these shows, in the audience was the owner of New Theatres, BN Sircar. Sircar was
mesmerized by the beauty and the power of the ballet and expressed his desire to
transform the ballet into a film. His only condition was that Gurudev would recite the
poetry in his voice and make an appearance in the film. Tagore agreed because it meant
big funds for his university.