'Nalini' makers to meet VC for campus shooting
Nalini is a Marathi-Bengali film on the relationship between Tagore and Annapurna Turkhud during 1878-79.
Kolkata : Makers of Nalini, a film on the relationship between teenaged Rabindranath Tagore and a Marathi girl, have been asked to meet the vice-chancellor of the Visva-Bharati and members of an experts committee before undertaking any shoot within the university campus.
Nalini is a Marathi-Bengali film on the relationship between Tagore and Annapurna Turkhud during 1878-79. She was the daughter of a family friend, based in Maharashtra, who had taught him Western manners before his trip to the UK. “We have asked the director to meet the members of a university appointed committee, comprising experts, and discuss the story and scenes before he can start shooting within the campus,” acting vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati, Sabujkali Sen, said on Monday.
She said, “As for any shoot within the campus, the makers of the film will have to satisfy the expert committee that the scenes will not project any contrarion view about Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and that it did not hurt the sentiments of millions of people, including us.”
The acting VC, who had been associated with the university for decades as a student and then as a teacher, also expressed reservations about allowing any shoot within the Visva Bharati ‘Upasana Griho’ (prayer hall).
“Whatever had happened in the past, had happened. We can’t allow the sanctity of the place (prayer hall) to be broken any more. Any shoot within the prayer hall can’t be allowed in future,” she said. Shooting of a Bengali film was allowed in the prayer hall two years back. When contacted, Nalini director Ujjwal Chatterjee said he is scheduled to meet her on June 27.
He said, “I have the letter of the varsity issued by the then VC in 2017 that they will allow us to shoot from September 2017 in the university campus.”
But the shooting in the campus did not take place in 2017 due to logistical reasons, he said adding that he is now confident to shoot in the campus by this September.‘Nalini’ is being produced by Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures.