Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain together in a film which is solely about their relationship- if one was sold on this one liner alone on paper, wait till you watch The Storyteller.
Also read: The Storyteller trailer: Paresh Rawal and Adil Husain add emotional complexity to Satyajit Ray’s short story
An engrossing watch directed by Ananth Mahadevan, this film’s release proves how content-rich films sometimes have to wait to prove themselves worthy of seeing the light of day. It premiered at the Busan film festival in 2022, and it has taken it only three years to reach the audiences. Thank God it did, because one wishes this was a series instead, one which would last far longer than it’s two hour runtime.
The story revolves around Tarini (Paresh Rawal), a man who is happy not travelling abroad to be with his son or stick to one job. In fact, his son remarks during a call that his dad has changed 10 jobs in a year! Passionate about storytelling, he doesn’t waver from his morals. One day, he comes across a job offer in the newspaper for a storyteller- and sets off to Ahmedabad, to become a personal storyteller to businessman Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), who has trouble falling asleep. What follows next- Bengali culture meets Gujarati, Tarini discovers Ratan’s secret- forms the rest of the story.
Based on legendary filmmaker-writer Satyajit Ray’s short story Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro, The Storyteller is a masterclass on how to grab the viewers’ attention and hold it. And the locations certainly play a big role. While most viewers don’t even realise, filmmakers today prefer shooting their films and web shows against the green screen, than actually go to the locations and shoot. Saves money. The fact that The Storyteller is set in Kolkata for its most part, Mahadevan prefers shooting it in the city, and it translates beautifully on screen. The leisurely pace, letting us see even how Tarini chooses his fish, is therapeutic- so is a brief shot of fish being prepared. Mahadevan, as a director, doesn’t waste his frames. Cinematographer Alphonse Roy has done his job well, capturing the old world charm the director was going for.
The one liner we shared right in the beginning was half the battle won for The Storyteller. Paresh is a delight to watch- he knows how much he needs to put in to convince us he is playing a Bengali man, without going overboard. Even his accent is measured. Adil is wonderfully restrained, and together in a scene they engross you. One spins cotton as a businessman, the other one, stories from thin air- ranging from deforestation to what not.
Overall, The Storyteller is a must watch- it’s a pause in time, a departure from the mundane, pacy lives we lead. Something as simple as a man who loves to tell stories- and what happens to his stories- becomes a story in itself. It is now streaming on Zee5.