Natir Puja (1932)

In 1932, on the occasion of Tagore's 70th birth anniversary, New Theatres, one of the prominent filmmaking studios, arranged the filming of Natir Puja - an adaptation of Tagore's poem Pujarini, which the poet had staged in 1927. This was the only time that Tagore was so closely associated with cinema with the screenplay being written under his guidance by nephew Dinendranath 'Dinu' Tagore and the master composing the background music, with students of Santiniketan acting in the film. Tagore not only directed this dance-drama shot over four days, but also played an important role in the film. Though the film in its entirety has been lost, a portion has been found and restored.
Over the years, close to a 100 films, more than half in Bengali, have been made on Tagore's works, making him one of the most adapted writers of all times. This number would have been bigger if many films had not been lost forever. Also many don't even mention Tagore. Adaptations of Tagore's work just don't seem to stop with many more projects being announced in the last few years, ever since Tagore's work came into public domain.
Rabindranath Tagore's contribution to cinema thus screams for a more serious attention from scholars of cinema, literature and history itself.
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