The Light: Swami Vivekananda

The Light: Swami Vivekananda (2013) is a bilingual (Bengali and Hindi) film directed by Utpal (Tutu) Sinha[1] and produced by Tri Colour productions private limited.[2] The film is based on the life and teaching of Swami Vivekananda. The film was a tribute to Vivekananda on the 150th anniversary of his birth.[3][4][5] The film was dubbed in 18 languages.[4][6]

The Light: Swami Vivekananda
Theatrical poster
Directed byUtpal (Tutu) Sinha
Screenplay byJ. Misra
Ashok Ranjan Chakraborty
Based onLife of Swami Vivekananda
StarringDeep Bhattacharya
Gargi Roy Choudhury
Premankur Chattopadhyay
Courtney Stephens
Biswajit Chakraborty
Piyali Mitra
Sayak Chakraborty Archita Sahu
Music byNachiketa and Dr. Haricharan Verma
CinematographyUtpal (Tutu) Sinha
Edited bySanjib Dutta
Production
company
Tri Colour productions private limited www.tricolourproductions.net
Release date
  • 1 February 2013 (2013-02-01) (Kolkata)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali, Hindi

Deep Bhattacharya played the role of Swami Vivekananda whom director Tutu Sinha first saw in a Bengali drama. Premankur Chattopadhyay and Gargi Roy Chowdhury played the characters of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sarada Devi respectively.[4]

Synopsis
Main article: Swami Vivekananda

The eventful life of Swami Vivekananda has been captured in this film. The film shows the transition from young Narendra Nath Datta to world preacher Swami Vivekananda. Different events from his life starting from childhood days to meeting with the mystic saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa at Dakshineswar, Vivekananda's travel to Northern India, travel to the West (America, Europe), meeting with Sister Nivedita, and his works in India have been captured, thereby building his journey from being Narendranath to Vivekananda in bits and pieces.[7]

Cast
  • Deep Bhattacharya as Swami Vivekananda
  • Sayak Chakraborty as Swami Vivekananda's child hood ( biley )
  • Gargi Roy Choudhury as Sarada Devi
  • Premankur Chakraborty as Ramakrishna
  • Courtney Stephens as Sister Nivedita
  • Biswajit Chakraborty as Vishwanath Datta (Vivekananda's father)
  • Piyali Mitra as Bhuvaneswari Devi (Vivekananda's mother)
  • Archita Sahu as Moina Bai

Production

Background

This film was director Tutu Sinha's first work in big screen, before that he mainly worked as an ad film maker and television director. In an interview Sinha told– "I have directed serials like Trishna and Rajmahal. I have also directed the serial Sadhok Bamakhyapa up to its 1000th episode. I always wanted to make a film on Swamiji."[3]

Making

The film was shot in different places of West Bengal like Kolkata and in Odisha like Rairangpur, Similipal etc. Director Tutu Sinha had to travel all over India for the research work of this film. The events of Vivekananda's life in Rajasthan was recreated in Odisha.[4] The scenes of Vivekananda's lectures at Parliament of World's Religions, Chicago in September 1893 was shot at Kolkata Town Hall.[8]

Casting
Actress speaks
Sarada Ma was one the most emancipated women of her times. The cinematography by Tutu is awesome and I feel the film will attract viewers not just from Bengal but beyond as well.

Gargi Roy Chowdhury on her character[9]

Mainly theatre actors and actresses were taken in this film.[6]

  • Deep Bhattacharya played the character of Swami Vivekananda. Director Sinha watched a drama of a Bengali theatre group named Sambed where he found Bhattacharya.
  • Gargi Roy Chowdhury played the role of Sarada Devi of young age. There was not any image of Swarada Devi available during her youth. The production team used computer applications to back-compose and find out how Sarada Devi might look during her youth. After the study they found Bengali film and television actress Gargi Roy Chowdhury suitable for the character.[4] Roy Chowdhury told about acting as Sarada Devi– "I am mighty happy to portray one of the most liberated women of all times"[7][9]
  • Premankur Chattopadhyay, who is also a theatre actor played the role of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.[4] Chattopadhyay told he would be indebted to the director forever for giving him opportunity to play the character in this film. He also told– "I can't explain how it all felt as I mouthed lines like 'Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth.' I am grateful director Tutu Sinha could think of me as Ramakrishna"[10]
  • Sayak Chakraborty played the role of vivekananda's child hood. This was Sayak's debut film.
  • California based actress Courtney Stephens played the character of Sister Nivedita.[4][9]
  • Archita Sahu played the role of Moina bai, a dancer at the court of Ajit Singh of Khetri. According to the director Sahu was "just right" for the role of Moina bai.[4]

Soundtrack

The music launch of the film took place in January 2013 at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata.[11][12] There were 14 songs in the film's music album. The music of the film was composed by Nachiketa Chakraborty and Dr. Haricharan Verma and the songs were sung by Ajay Chakraborty, Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Nachiketa Chakraborty, Subhankar Bhaskar, and Javed Ali.[13]

All music is composed by Nachiketa Chakraborty and Dr. Haricharan Verma.

No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Janani Janmabhumi Swargadapi Gariyashi" (Sanskrit)ValmikiNachiketa Chakraborty and chorus 
2."Shree Guru Charan Saroj (Hanuman Chalisa)" (Awadhi)TulsidasNazia Alam 
3."Dui Hridoyer Nodi" (Bengali)Rabindranath TagoreSubhankar Bhaskar 
4."Dukh Me Sumiran Sab Kare" (Hindi)KabirSuresh Wadkar 
5."Mon Cholo Nijo Niketone I" (Bengali)Ajay Udayanath PakrashiSubhankar Bhaskar 
6."Maa Korali Kali" (Bengali) Ajay Chakraborty 
7."Satyer Pother Bijoy Rothe" (Bengali) Nachiketa Chakraborty 
8."Allah Tu Kitna Hai Mehrban" (Hindi) Javed Ali 
9."Pile Pile Re Mann" (Hindi) Suresh Wadkar 
10."Kaise Kahu Maan Ki Batiya" (Hindi) Kavita Krishnamurthy 
11."Parbhu Ji More Aaugan Chit Na Dharo" (Hindi)SurdasKavita Krishnamurthy 
12."Mon Cholo Nijo Niketone II" (Bengali)Ajay Udayanath PakrashiSubhankar Bhaskar 
13."Hey Prabhu Hey Ishwar" (Hindi) Nachiketa Chakraborty 
14."Nahi Suryo Nahi Jyoti" (Bengali)Swami VivekanandaNachiketa Chakraborty and chorus 

Release

Both the director and the producer of the film wanted to release the film in 2012. But, because the post-production word, they could not release it in that year. Next they targeted to release the film on 11 January 2013, the day before Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary. But they could not release the film on that day either. Finally the film was scheduled to release on 23 August 2013.[14] The film's premier was organised at Nandan, Kolkata.[15] Many state governments have declared this movie as tax free in their states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal.

Reception

The film garnered mixed reviews from critics. The Times of India rated the film 3 and a half out of 5 stars and stated the film "goes to show again that some films are still made in Tollywood, which do not get any hype, yet are good works of art in their own right." In this review the acting of Deep Bhattacharya was highly appreciated.[16] Washington Bangla Radio on Internet wrote in their review: "Premankur and Deep have proven in the film that theatrical experience can be a great asset for actors".[17]

See also

References
  1. "Cast and crew". Tricolour movies. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. "Cast and Crew". Gomolo. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. "Embrace a good way of living". Bengal Post. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  4. "I am inspired by Rekhaji: Archita Sahu". The Times of India. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. "The Light – Swami Vivekananda". Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  6. "Archita in The Light-Swami Vivekananda Hindi and Bengali Movie". Full Orissa Movies. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  7. "New film on Swami Vivekananda's life in making". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  8. "Town Hall-e Chicago". Aajkal. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013. (in Bengali)
  9. "Gargi to play Ma Sarada". The Times of India. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  10. "Vivekananda film premiered". Manorama Online. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  11. "Music Release of the New Devotional Film "The Light"". Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  12. "Music launch of Bengali movie 'The Light: Swami Vivekananda'". Gomolo. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  13. "The Light Swami Vivekananda soundtracks". Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  14. "The Light Swami Vivekananda". Retrieved 23 August 2013. (in Bengali)
  15. "Swami Vivekananda Biopic The Light (2013) Opens in Kolkata". Washington Bangla Radio. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  16. "The Light: Swami Vivekananda review". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  17. "WBRi review". WBRi. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
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