Film based on Tagore story out on May 6

Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary is going to be special. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai is set to release his multi-lingual film, NaukaDoobi, on May 6 to pay tribute to Gurudev.

Earlier, the Riya-Raima Sen starrer, which is based on a Tagore story, was supposed to open in January. “Since May 7 is Tagore’s 150th birth centenary, we thought it would be the best way to pay tribute to him, especially since the film is based on his work. Otherwise, we had planned to release the film in January,” says Ghai, adding that the film will be premiered across cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the film is set in the 1920s and depicts the tussle between true love and social conventions related to marriage.

For the Hindi version, Ghai has shortened the film by 30 minutes. “For the Bengali version, Rituparno is free to go ahead with the original length (2 hours, 35 minutes). But the Hindi version will be shorter,” says Ghai.

Nauka Doobi premiered at the International Film Festival of Goa last year. “I am happy to be associated with such a film. It’s a beautiful film irrespective of its language. And since it’s based on a great man’s work, I decided to dub it in Hindi as well as go for the edited version. This will make it appealing to Hindi-speaking audiences,” says Ghai.

Furthermore, Ghai informs that he is planning several other events around Tagore’s works since the film releases around his birth centenary. Also, poet-lyricist Gulzar has been roped in to translate Tagore’s words (lyrics) into Hindi for the edited version. “I had showed Gulzar saab the film and he loved it. So he is doing the translation, which is going to be special for Hindi-speaking audiences,” says Ghai. There will be no change in the orchestra track or in the tune of the original songs because only the lyrics will be translated into Hindi. Gulzar has written two songs and has three more to go.