Actress and producer Priyanka Chopra will produce a Bengali-Marathi film titled Nalini, based on poet Rabindranath Tagore’s love life. The Nobel Laureate was in love with his teacher and wrote several poems about her. While the film is planned as a biopic, the focus will be on Tagore’s romantic side.
The film will be directed by National Award winning director Ujjwal Chatterjee.
Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Ujjwal Chatterjee said that it would be a platonic love story. “The film will narrate it from the point of view of a young student, who visits modern-day Santiniketan and sees a picture of Annapurna captioned Nalini. Casting is in progress and the film is expected to go on the floors by October,” he said. Chatterjee’s wife Sagarika has written the script of the film.
Tagore’s love story began when he was 17 years old and living with Dr Atmaram Pandurang Turkhud in Mumbai. He fell in love with Turkhud’s 20-year-old daughter, Annapurna. She had just returned from England and was his tutor. As the classes progressed, an intimacy developed between the teacher and her young student. Upon her insistence, he gave her the name Nalini, and wrote a poem about her.
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The film was initially supposed to be titled Sound of Silence (inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel’s song). However, Sagarika reveals that they had started writing the film in 2011 and it was set to be a larger story with Tagore’s first love only forming a part of the narrative. “When we met Madhu Chopra (Priyanka’s producer mother) around two years ago, they wanted to know how much of the story was factually accurate and true. I showed them my research and they agreed to produce the film. It has since materialised into a saga of unrequited love,” she says.
Priyanka Chopra has produced Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and Marathi films. Her film Ventilator won the National Award for Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Sound-Mixing. She has also produced a Sikkimese and Goan film, with the aim of producing quality films for audiences.