Tagore poem to be brought to celluloid

Rabindranath Tagore's poem “Hothat Dekha” will soon be turned into a film under an India-Bangladesh joint production, with a cast drawn from the two countries. 

The film's director Reshmi Mitra said that shooting would be done extensively in Bangladesh and Birbhum district in West Bengal.

 “The dialogues retain the resonance of the poem and we have recreated the period look of 1938,” she said.

Besides Kanchan and Debosree, among others in the cast are Shankar Chakraborty, Tulika Basu (India), and Munira Yusuf Memi and Azhar JS Himi (Bangladesh). 

 “We have sought to incorporate several important issues of the bygone times including female education and the general condition of women in the feudal set-up and the women who came out of this,” Reshmi said.

She said that the storyline involves two characters who meet in a train compartment after many years of their first encounter.

The film, produced by Bangladesh's Impress Telefilm and two Indian producers, would be shot in Chittagong, Mymensingh, Dhaka and Rangamati, and in several parts of rural West Bengal where Tagore was primarily based.

The film has Rabindra Sangeet and Baul songs rendered by popular Bangladeshi Rabindra Ssangeet exponent Rezwana Chowdhury Banya, Anupam Roy and Kartik Das Baul.

 “Music plays an important part in the movie since there are shots of vast expanse of rivers, a typical sight across the borders,” said the director, who has previously made two films.