All Recent Reviews of
The Storyteller
Reviewers on this page:
Udita Jhunjhunwala
Srivathsan Nadadhur
Shubhra Gupta
Deepak Dua
Bharathi Pradhan
About The Storyteller
| Title: | The Storyteller |
|---|---|
| Original Title: | The Storyteller |
| Plot: | After decades of working in the printing industry in Kolkata in eastern India, Tarini has reached retirement age. He spends his days at home, having declined his son’s invitation to come to the United States. Then a friend shows him a help-wanted ad. Although he has never published a book, Tarini used to tell made-up stories to his friends in his youth, and the ad for a storyteller in Ahmedabad in western India piques his interest. |
| Cast: | Paresh Rawal, Rajarshi Nag, Adil Hussain, Jayesh More, Anindita Bose, Tannishtha Chatterjee |
| Director: | Ananth Narayan Mahadevan |
| Cinematography: | Alphonse Roy |
| Editor: | Gourav Gopal Jha |
The Storyteller
Udita Jhunjhunwala
Mint, Scroll.in
A question of authorship
Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's film is a satisfying retelling of a classic short story by Satyajit Ray
Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, in partnership with writer Kireet Khurana, has extended Satyajit Ray’s short story Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro into The Storyteller, a 116-minute drama available on Disney+ Hotstar. Tarini Bandopadhyay (Paresh Rawal) is a recently retired writer, whose longest assignment lasted 13 weeks. He’s a widower who is content with his Calcutta life and takes meticulous care of his Ambassador car. Conversations with his fellow comrades, over fish fry and fish curry, are rarely without mention of Capitalism and its ills and almost always end with ‘Tarini tales’. Tarini is a wonderful storyteller. Even after his wife gifted him a pen to encourage him, Tarini never recorded his imaginative and original stories.
The Storyteller
Srivathsan Nadadhur
(for M9 News)
Independent Film Critic
Relatable, Gentle, Masala-Free
Tarini Bandyopadhyay, a widowed elderly Bengali man with a son, has long stints at many publishing houses, but never takes it upon himself to be an author, despite being a gifted communicator and storyteller. After his retirement, he’s hired by an Ahmedabad-based businessman Ratan Garodia, suffering from chronic insomnia, to tell stories in the hope of finding sleep.
The Storyteller
Shubhra Gupta
The Indian Express
Paresh Rawal, Adil Hussain film rewards you for your patience
Even though the casting of the Gujju-in-real-life Paresh Rawal as the intellectual Bengali, and Adil Hussain as the sheep-counting-to-no-avail businessman, feels counter-intuitive, the actors are consummate enough to carry it off.
A Satyajit Ray short story becomes the basis of ‘The Storyteller’, an unhurried unspooling of an unlikely relationship between two men, separated by geographies, backgrounds, and, most crucially, intent. The result is a film which takes its time to lay out its wares, demanding your patience, which does get a trifle stretched, but overall rewards you for it. Tarini Bandhopadhyaya (Paresh Rawal) is a 60-something Bengali gent who loves fish and hates capitalism with equal passion. Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain) is a Gujarati businessman who has everything except the comfort of sleep.
The Storyteller
Deepak Dua
Independent Film Journalist & Critic
सुलाने का काम करता
सिनेमा के लिए लिखी गई हर कहानी बड़े पर्दे के लिए नहीं होती। होती, तो लंबे अर्से से बन कर रखी यह फिल्म काफी पहले रिलीज़ हो गई होती। एक सच और भी है कि सिनेमा के लिए लिखी गई हर कहानी पर ‘सिनेमा’ बन ही जाए, यह भी ज़रूरी नहीं। इसी कहानी को ही देखिए। कोलकाता में रह रहा तारिणी बंदोपाध्याय अखबार में विज्ञापन देख कर अहमदाबाद जा पहुंचता है जहां उसे एक ऐसे अमीर कारोबारी रतन गरोडिया को कहानियां सुना कर सुलाने का काम मिलता है जिसे नींद न आने की बीमारी है। कहानियां सुनने-सुनाने के दौरान इन दोनों की बातें इस फिल्म को एक अलग दिशा देती हैं। फिल्मकार सत्यजित रे ने बतौर लेखक जो लोकप्रिय किरदार रचे उनमें एक पात्र तारिणी खुरो का भी था। इस किरदार को केंद्र में रच कर लिखी गईं उनकी ढेरों कहानियों में से आखिरी कहानी ‘गोल्पो बोलिए तारिणी खुरो’ यानी ‘कहानियां सुनाने वाला तारिणी अंकल’ थी। उसी लघु कथा को आधार बना कर तीन लेखकों ने इस फिल्म की पटकथा तैयार की है जिसमें इंसानी जीवन और दुनियावी पेचीदगियों के बारे में बातें हैं। लेकिन इस फिल्म के साथ दिक्कत यही है कि इसमें बातें ही बातें हैं। हालांकि ये बातें बुरी नहीं हैं और इन्हें ध्यान से सुना जाए तो ये कुछ बताती-सिखाती ही हैं।
The Storyteller
Bharathi Pradhan
Lehren.com
A ‘Ray’ Gem
Based on the Bengali short story Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro by Satyajit Ray, a wealthy businessman hires a storyteller to help with his insomnia. However, as the storyteller continues, the tale takes unexpected and intriguing twists.
To pick one from the ultimate storyteller’s repertoire requires a special talent. Writer- director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan has done just that–he has unerringly chosen a subject that blends two cultures (Bengali, Gujarati), poking fun at neither but having fun all the same. It’s not just about retired storyteller Tarini Bandopadhyay (Paresh Rawal) feeling the fish and bargaining before buying it in Calcutta or the strict vegetarian dhokla-thepla that he says is “delectable” to his wealthy host Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain) in Ahmedabad while muttering, “disgusting” over the phone to fellow Bengalis. There’s a good-natured swipe at capitalism and socialism too. To this, add unpreached undercurrents like the need to evaluate your self-worth with confidence along with some intrigue on where this is going, and you get Satyajit Ray’s short story Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro.