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Monday, November 22, 2021

Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

Do you remember back  when we were in school? During summer vacations we would watch old mythological and other stories with a message to teach. Or sit together with friends or cousins listening intently to your grandparents reciting various stories. That's exactly how I felt watching this extremely well made and beautiful series called Stories by Rabindranath Tagore.



As you might have guessed by the name, the series is based on stories of Rabindranath Tagore ji. While some of them are popular and already been pictured many times - like Chokher Bali, Kabuliwala etc. Many of the others were pretty unknown to me. And I loved each one of them more than the other.

The star cast baring for a few (Radhika Apte, Amrita Puri, Sumeet Vyas) are mostly new faces, which works wonderfully in the favour of the stories. I would say more than the acting and the picturization, it is the very essense of these stories that makes the entire series stand out. Like I mentioned before these are simple stories,  no major suspense or heist or explicit content and yet they bring out varied human emotions and nuances beautifully. And the best part is the strong female characters in almost all of the stories, who not not afraid to strand up for themselves. Considering the fact that the series in based in 1920s, and the stories were written even before that - you will love how progressive the stories are.

The cinematography perfectly matches the old school charm of the series. Everything from the sets, clothes, dialect will take you back in time and share some bits of Bengal. But then its directed by Anurag Basu, can you expect anything else?

On an exceptionally cold foggy sunday, I sat cuddled in my kashmiri pheran and cup of hot coffee in my hand. I was browsing Netflix for a perfect companion and settled on " Stories by Rabindranath Tagore ". Easily the best decision I ever made. I sat glued in my place for next 2 days and devoured and relished the entire series. Do not miss this beauty of a series, which will not only transport you back in time but also teach a few morals on the way.