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Primary sourceDocumentary1932

Natir Puja

Rabindranath Tagore · 1932

The only film Tagore directed, a 1932 recording of his own dance drama, now largely lost.

Tagore wrote, directed, and acted in this film, the only one he ever directed.

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The Bengali script words 'নটীর পূজা' in black text on a white background, the title of the work.
Title card of Natir Puja, directed by Rabindranath Tagore, 1932. Most prints of the film are now lost.

About this source

What it is

This is Natir Puja, a 1932 film recording of Rabindranath Tagore's 1926 stage dance-drama of the same name. Tagore wrote and directed it and also acted in it; the music was composed by Dinendranath Tagore and it was produced by B. N. Sircar's New Theatres studio.

Why it matters

This is the only film credited to Tagore as director, made near the end of his life when cinema invited him to transform his stage work. Though a commercial failure, some critics praised its dance performances and song. The original prints were destroyed by fire, so what survives today is mostly historical memory rather than the film itself.

Look closer

  • Why might a stage play translate poorly or well onto film?
  • What does the loss of the film tell you about how fragile historical records can be?
  • Why do you think Tagore, already famous as a poet, wanted to try filmmaking?

This documentary is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of the book Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats, published by Macmillan and Co., London, 1913.Book

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Title page of Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1913.Book

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Rabindranath Tagore · 1910

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore standing with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

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Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Piano sheet music score titled 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore, in D minor/F major key with 4/4 time, tempo 96, two staves (treble clef) with dynamics like f, p, ff and a fermata at the end.Document

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Jana Gana Mana

Rabindranath Tagore · 11 December 1911

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