It is inexplicable why this elevating film, based on a Satyajit Ray short story, was in the doldrums since 2022. Jio Studios and Jio Hotstar bring us this delightful fable at long last after its showing at the Busan International Film Festival then.
Tarini Bandopadhyay in Kolkata (Paresh Rawal with stubble, spectacles and a resume of 73 jobs before he retires!) is a widower and has a yen for thinking up stories in a jiffy, but has never published any. He answers a call from Ahmedabad where the client wants a professional storyteller for some reason—kids maybe—for Tarini, it is going to be yet another novel experience.
A hardcore fish-eater and a sworn hater of capitalists, he encounters there a vegetarian cotton tycoon, Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), and is surprised to know that the man has been a bachelor and an insomniac for 30 years. Ratan wants to know if his stories can put him to sleep. But he also wonders if Tarini’s stories are really original. He is then completely fascinated by how Tarini cooks up riveting stories on the spot from even mundane things like an old chair. The stories too have immense entertainment value, and clandestinely, Ratan begins to write and publish them in Gujarati under the pseudonym of Gorky. His old flame (Revathi), who never respected him and had married someone else, is now widowed, finally begins to admire him. For Gorky becomes a rage.
Tarini has developed a friendship with the local librarian, Suzie (Tannistha Chatterjee) and by chance he comes upon the writings of Gorky, and tells his people back home that Gorky has indeed made him famous indirectly, which he could not do on his own. He happily continues to tell Ratan stories. Ratan, in turn, warns his servant, Manik (Jayesh More) that Tarini should never find out what he has done. But soon enough, at the release of Ratan’s latest compilation, a plagiarism charge with damages for a million is filed against him, and not by Tarini. A surprise climax follows.
Director Anant Narayan Mahadevan has always had this creative dichotomy. If he has made serious, topical films that include Mee Sindhutai Sakpal and Gour Hari Dastaan, he has also made rank commercial films like The Xpose and Aksar 2. This time, he picks up as base the Satyajit Ray’s Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro (which Ray is supposed to have experienced himself during a US visit, as per actor Adil Hussain) and the result is a languidly narrated story on values, ethics and relationships.
The writing (adaptation) is bright and vivid and the dialogues are witty. Writer Khurana and Mahadevan (and obviously Ray) form a trinity of National award honorees who spin a tapestry of three unforgettable characters in Tarini, Rajan and Manik, with the two women in commendable support to the storyline in more than the cosmetic sense. Though only 116 minutes long, the film could have been at least 10 minutes shorter still and so film editor Gourav Gopal Jha could have taken a greater command. If more crisp, the film could have been even better.
The cinematography (Alphonse Roy), background score (Hriju Roy) and production design (Preetam Rai and Bablu Singha) are very supportive of the fabric of the story. Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain roam the film like two powerful lions who are technically friends and admirers of each other and yet have their own definite fodders to acquire and nurture. Their sequences of bonhomie are perfect examples of how two chiseled veterans demonstrate the histrionic understanding of their powerful characters. Jayesh More is topnotch as Manik and, as stated before, Tannishtha and Revathi do great in their brief roles.
As the film is streaming on OTT, you should not miss it because it forms a very illuminating home watch.
Rating: ***1/2
Jio Hotstar presents Jio Studios’, A Purpose Entertainment’s & Quest Films’ The Storyteller Produced by: Jyoti Deshpande, Suchhanda Chatterjee, Salil Chaturvedi & Shubha Shetty Directed by: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan Written by: Kireet Khurana based on Satyajit Ray’s “Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro” Music: Hriju Roy Starring: Paresh Rawal, Adil Hussain, Revathi, Tannistha Chatterjee, Anindita Bose, Jayesh More, Rohit Mukherjee, Pratik Dutta & others
