ADAPTATION: STORIES BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE AND

FILMS BY SATYAJIT RAY, NEW TELLINGS

Stories are adapted and adopted by various authors for new interpretation,
one text entering into another effortlessly. This adaptation include adoption,
interpretation, defocusing, reviewing, simplifying, etc., and is a process that
has been there from the beginning of our literary and artistic civilization. In
various platforms of communication one finds the same desire to tell a
story but with a different point of view, an attempt to reinterpret the story
that has been found in some other platforms.
Rabindranath Tagore, a literary giant of the 20th century of modern India
was basically a writer of various forms: poems, prose, novel, essay, lyrics,
drama, music, etc. Tagore was a multi-talented litterateur of essentially
Bengali language. Tagore is a Renaissance man; a man who is firmly rooted
in his culture and tradition but not blinded by it. He reinterpreted the
Indian tradition and culture like a true Bramho Samaj member - appreciating
all that is good and criticizing and rejecting that was lifeless and
meaningless.
Satyajit Ray having been born in a Bramho Samaj family, and the family
being a close associate of Tagore, did not take writing to his main platform
of creation. Ray’s family members where into writing particularly his grand
father and his father. One needs to be reminded also that Satyajit Ray did
write, and wrote a huge volume particularly for children and that too in
Bengali. But his main plank was cinema.

ADAPTATION
As said earlier, that the same stories and characters move from one
platform to another, from one text to other. Walter Benjamin’s core
thinking stated that story telling is nothing but repeating the same time
and again. Adaptation is therefore, taking the essence but creating things a
new.
Issues that arises out of this process of adaptation:
 *What is original? Who decides the superiority of the original and
inferiority of the adapted one?
*How? When? And under what context the original has been referred
to?
However, as Linda Hutcheon stated, “one lesson is that to be the second is
not to be secondary or inferior; likewise, to be 1st is not to be originary or
authoritative. Yet… disparaging, opinions on adaptation as secondary mode-
belated and therefore derivative--- persists.”
Therefore each adapted text will invite the audience to have a different
perspective.
Discussing the function of a narrative Ronald Barthas pointed out
1. Distributional functions of a narrative are horizontal in nature. He
further sub-divides distributional function into a) Cardinal functions
are major points b) Catalyses are smaller events.
2. Integrational functions are more philosophical, the thoughts that force
an author or a director to tell a story or make a film. He further
sub-divides the indices further into a) Indices proper: are less
concrete. b) Informants are more concrete.
Barthes pointed out that distributional functions and informants are
easily transferable from one text to another.

SAMAPTI
The main nodes of the story have been taken by Satyajit Ray. Theses
are: i) Location - Village, muddy and slushy roads, greenery, the quiet
and serene surroundings; ii) the main characters Apurba, Mrinmoyee,
mother. Rakhal the playmate of Mrinmoyee; iii) the strands such as the
educational sojourn of Apurba to Calcutta, the marriage, the decision of
Apurba to get married to Mrinmoyee.
In Tagore’s Samapti the title Samapti means the ending of travel.
In Ray’s film, the nature of change in the character of Mrinmoyee is
evolutionary. A point, time and again emphasized by Ray that a character
must be allowed to flow and grow unhindered. The journey becomes
inward bound when the husband leaves for Calcutta. Ray made a lot of
change in the related incidents. Ray brought in a squirrel, Mrinmoyee
creating a chaos in a serious situation. In Ray’s film Mrinmoyee does not
kiss, bows to Apurba and does pranam.
In Ray, this evolutionary aspect of the character has been presented in a
poetic and subtle manner, whereas it was a dramatic one in Tagore.
Emphasis on the requirement of time and space for the development and
growth of human character is strongly made in Ray.

CHARULATA (Broken Nest In Tagore)

It is a story about Charulata, newly married wife, her husband Bhupati who
is English educated and runs a newspaper in english in Calcutta. Umapada
the brother of Charulata brought to the house to help him. Amol a
younger cousin brother of Bhupati lands in the house. Charulata falls in
love with Amol. Umapada cheats Bhupati in financial matters. Bhupati loses
the paper as well as the love of his wife.
In the final analysis, we find that the main story, i.e., the location, the
names and the main traits of the Characters have been the same. The
incidents and the emphasis were different. In Ray, Charu evolves from a
delicate and vulnerable character to a strong one. She realized that she
was in love with Amol and never failed to express that. At the end she
decided to keep her love, keep the relationship with her husband but was
not ashamed of what has happened. She accepts her past without any
regret. The enunciatory aspect in Ray’s film is strong and focused. It is not
only a version of Tagore’s ‘Nashto Ner’ - Ray’s Charulata is a new creation,
a new telling. Tagore’s emphasis was that the family and the relationship
among the members have collapsed whereas, in Ray, it was the birth and
evolution of anew character in Charulata.

POSTMASTER
The story was adapted by Satyajit Ray in his ‘Teen Kanya’ film. The location
is a rural post office in Ulapur village. Satyajit Ray has kept the basic
elements, i.e., the iconic aspects such as the name of the village, the
names of the characters and their activities and the status of the characters
have been kept as they were in Tagore. But the sequences and incidences
were arranged by Ray differently. New incidences and characters have been
added by Ray. Prominent among these are: the Bishu Pagla, the evening
music concert organized and performed bt the elderly of the village, the
falling of the postmaster from the chair and the snake skin incident. The
simple and the affectionate dialogues between the postmaster and Ratan
have been added by Ray. The postmaster is struck down by malaria. He
applies for a transfer and later resigns. The new postmaster replaces him.
Ratan is devastated.
The indexical elements such as the rural ambience, the greenery, the mud
house as post office cum residence, photographs hanging in the wall
remained as that in Tagore.
The difference between Ray and Tagore is how the story ends. In Tagore,
Ratan requests the postmaster to take her to Culcutta. In Ray, Ratan does
not talk to Nanda, neither has she responded to postmaster’s call. She does
not look at him during his departure. In Tagore, she was weak and
vulnerable and pitiable character. On contrary Ratan in Ray is strong,
independent and accepts her status and moves on with her life.

CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, adaptation is not replication or repetition - it is a process of
creation, creating, stories and characters anew. ‘Samapti’ may have the
same title but Tagore and Ray have created different telling not versions. In
the same way Nasthaneer and Charulata are new tellings. The postmaster
in both have same title but differs greatly.