Kabuliwala, Rabindranath Tagore’s short story of a trader from Afghanistan who regularly visits Calcutta (now Kolkata) to sell dry fruits and the bond he shares with eight-year-old Mini, continues to tug at heartstrings, having been adapted on screen and stage several times ever since it was published in 1892.
Now Fox Star Studios, in association with Star India, are presenting a film based on it but with a twist, titled Bioscopewala.
Everyone has an incomplete story. #WhatsYourStory?
Watch out for an adaptation of #RabindranathTagore‘s – Kabuliwala through a new lens! Presenting #Bioscopewala releasing on May 25. @SunilDoshi @tiscatime @_AdilHussain @DebMedhekar @AllianceMediaIN @starindia pic.twitter.com/XsRqjFOfRY— Fox Star Hindi (@foxstarhindi) April 28, 2018
Directed by Deb Medhekar, the film is a modern take on the story, where a popular photographer goes missing on a plane to Kabul, prompting his daughter to fly back to India and understand why he traveled there.
In a statement, the filmmaker said:
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“Remaking a classic warrants a change in perspective, relooking at the social mores, at interpersonal relationships as they stand today. For me, Kabuliwala was a classic story restricted to school textbooks. Through Bioscopewala, I wanted to embark with my audience on a journey to rediscover who he was – what his travails meant – what the essential, innocent core was, that time had managed to make distant.”
The film stars veteran actor Danny Denzongpa, Geetanjali Thapa, Tisca Chopra and Adil Hussain, and is slated for a May 25 release. Incidentally, Bioscopewala was the only Indian film in competition under the Asian Future section at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival held last year.
The original story revolves around the Kabuliwala and little Mini who develop a friendship over time. It was first made into a Bengali movie in 1957 starring Chhabi Biswas, Oindrila Tagore, and Asha Devi. It was also made into a Hindi film in 1961 starring Balraj Sahni, child actor Sonu, and Usha Kiran. The story, in recent times, was also adapted as of the 2015 TV series Stories By Rabindranath Tagore.