A documentary film on the life and achievement of Rabindranath Tagore was shown here at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan premises on June 27 evening. This was brought here with a view to bolster cultural exchanges between West Bengal and Odisha, as both States have identical cultures.
The film which was enjoyed by packed intellectuals who sat glued to their seats till the end of the show that lasted for an hour and a half. The film highlighted the kaleidoscopic personality of Rabindra Nath as a poet, philosopher, painter, traveller, patriot, leader of the Indian freedom struggle and as a globe trotting intellectual delivering speeches at the Universities of Oxford, Birmingham. The film also contains in its ambit Tagore’s talks in China, Italy, the USA and the UK. The film also has faihtfully portrayed Tagore not only as a nationalist but also as an internationalist and his meeting with Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore’s deep influence on West Bengal’s cultural mosaic, social and political upheaveals are also delineated in its true colour and rhythm.
Earlier, MP Baisnab Charan Parida and director and producer of the film Mujibur Rehman spoke shortly on the twin cultural aspects of Odisha and Bengal. Rehman went a step further describing that the culture of Odisha is no way different from the culture of West Bengal. Parida reciprocated in the same vein by observing that the culture of West Bengal and that of Odisha are akin to each other and that Tagore had his links to Odisha in Puri and in Jagatsingpur district where still his old houses as memorabilia exist. Noted litterateur Satakadi Hota also paid glowing tributes to Tagore whose 150 birthday was celebrated recently, not only in India but also all over the globe.