-- Tagore in Pashchim Jatrir Diary

"Two-third of all feature films are based on previously published sources," says Sabbir Chowdhury. A lecturer at the Department of English, Jahangirnagar University, Sabbir has been actively involved with the film societies in Bangladesh for over 22 years. Sabbir is a member of FIPRESCI (The International Federation of Film Critics), the general secretary of Zahir Raihan Film Society and vice president of Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies. He also has a not-so modest collection of over 4,000 movies in all formats -- VHS, LD, VCD and DVD.

Going over film adaptation of literature, Sabbir says, "There can be two ways to adapt: Literal and creative. Needless to say, it takes a gifted filmmaker's profound understanding of the literary work and the author's identity to be able to accomplish a creative adaptation."

Addressing film adaptations of Tagore's works, Sabbir says, "Around 70 films based on Tagore's novels, short stories and plays have been made so far in the subcontinent. Most of them are naturally in Bangla. However, there are a few adaptations in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu etc. Apparently Bimol Roy's Hindi feature film Do Bigha Zameen (1953) was inspired by Tagore's poem Dui Bigha Jami."

The number of film adaptations of Tagore's work is not impressive where as Sarat Chandra's Devdas alone has had over 8 adaptations. Are filmmakers discouraged to adapt Tagore's literary works? "There are a number of reasons for that actually. Bangla being a regional language in the Indian context, Tagore's works, specifically his novels and short stories, haven't had mass exposure throughout the region. Excessive melodrama is not present in Tagore's stories, whereas exaggeration of drama is a common trait of Sarat Chandra's works. Commercial films thrive on melodrama; the kind of subtlety prevalent in Tagore's work is not encouraged.

"Human psyche, and nature are major elements in Tagore's stories. It takes a deft filmmaker to incorporate these elements," Sabbir says.

"If we consider film adaptations of Tagore's literary works, starting from the silent film Manbhanjan (1923) by Naresh Chandra Mitra to the very recent Kabuliwala (2006) by Kazi Hayat -- majority are literal adaptations. In most cases these adaptations are by mediocre filmmakers who have little or no understanding of Tagore. For instance Tapan Sinha made three films based on Tagore's works -- Kabuliwala (1956), Khudhito Pashan (1960) and Atithi (1965). Among them, Kabuliwala was popular because of its mass appeal; the others were just below average adaptations.

"Even adaptations by ace filmmakers like Mrinal Sen and Purnendu Patri -- Ichchhapooran (1970) and Streer Potro (1973), Maloncho (1979) respectively -- cannot be considered 'Grade A' endeavours.

"Satyajit Ray was perhaps the only filmmaker who could successfully translate Tagore works into films. And to understand why, we have to consider Ray's background. Both Tagore and Ray belonged to pioneering Brahmo families. Ray's father (Sukumar Ray) and Tagore had close ties. When Ray went to Shantiniketan to study Fine Arts, Tagore was still alive. So, it's understandable that Ray would have a sound understanding of Tagore as a person and as an author.

"Ray used Tagore's stories but his films had their own language. He made modifications where necessary (for which he was often criticised), keeping the central idea intact. The best demonstration of creative adaptation of Tagore's work is perhaps Charulata (1964). Based on Noshtoneer, the film is a manifestation of a creative titan at his best. Ray reconstructed the whole story. Instead of using the stereotypical narrative voice that'd say, 'this is Bhupati's wife Charu. Charu is lonely...

', Ray showed Charu looking through the window, watching passers-by on the street with her opera glass and then after a while getting bored... That is the language of films, that's how a master filmmaker lets images speak," Sabbir says.

Sabbir continues, "In recent year Rituporno Ghosh's adaptation of Chokher Bali (2003) was much talked about. The film boasts great art direction but efforts by the actors and the adaptation on the whole are not up to the mark."

"Three film adaptations -- Shasti, Shubha and Kabuliwala -- made in our country are drab and below average. However, Raktokarobi (by Mustafa Manowar) remains the best TV adaptation of Tagore's work," concludes the film buff.