Usage of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs in Satyajit Ray’s selected Films An Aesthetic Discourse

Abstract

If Rabindranath Tagore was the ultimate cultural figure of India in the first half of the 20th century (pre-independent India), the greatest cultural personality of second half of the 20th century (post-independent India) was Satyajit Ray. Ray was linked to Tagore through the Brahmo Samaj movement, as well as his own studies as a student at Tagore’s university at Santiniketan. Ray was also connected to Tagore through his father and grandfather (also great writers) who were close friends of the poet. Tagore’s profound influence on his work was openly expressed by Ray. Ray recognized Tagore’s prodigious influence in mentioning his personal sense of creative indebtedness: I consider the three years I spent at Shantiniketan at the most fruitful period of my life. This was not so much because of the proximity to Tagore who continued to remain unapproachable. It was just that Shantiniketan opened my eyes for the first time to the splendour of Indian and Far Eastern art. Until then I was completely under the sway of western art, music and literature. Shantiniketan made me the combined product of East and West that I am. As a filmmaker, I owe as much to Shantiniketan as I do American and European cinema. Tagore’s aesthetic influence was such intense that eventually led Ray to make three films from the poets’ visions. Teen Kanya (1961) is a collection of three short films adapted from Tagore’s short stories concerning lives in rural Bengal. Charulata (1964) is a rendition of Nashtoneer (1901), a short novel with the theme of women's emancipation. Ghare-Baire (1984) from a novel of the same name tells a story of the human condition and relationships in the time of the nationalist movement. Not only Tagore texts, but his songs also had a huge impact on Ray. He has used Tagore songs numerous times in his films. With such a background and body of work, this paper shall look into specifically two of his films, based on Tagore texts, Charulata and Ghare-Baire and try to analyze the usage of Rabindrasangeet in those films respectively.