Shyama

Shyama, Obhi Chatterjee’s feature film version of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s classic Bengali dance musical, will be part of the Stratford Poetry Festival’s tribute to the Indian poet, philosopher, artist and composer on his birth anniversary. The film will be introduced by a live programme featuring Kaberi, Jayanta and Obhi Chatterjee.

Through poetry, songs and dance, the live programme narrated by Obhi Chatterjee will explore Tagore’s creative journey from poetry to dance. Shyama tells the story of a court dancer who falls in love with a foreign merchant, who is falsely imprisoned and faces execution ... unless Shyama accepts her admirer’s offer to take the merchant’s place. Written in 1939, Shyama was Tagore’s last major work for the stage. Perhaps best described as a cross between opera and ballet, it reflects his artistic and philosophical reaction to both the turbulence of pre-Independence India and Hitler’s persecution of Jews in Germany.

The film features leading dancers, singers and musicians from Tagore’s home town of Santiniketan. Kaberi Chatterjee dances the title role of Shyama, the court dancer, whose songs are performed by Manini Mukhopadhyay Bagchi. TS Vasunni dances the role of Bojroshen, the foreign merchant, whose songs are performed by Jayanta Chatterjee.

Announcing the event, the Director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Dr Diana Owen, said: "We are delighted to be able to present this unique work as part of our 2009 Poetry Festival and hope that people will join us on Saturday to celebrate Tagore's Birthday here at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Shyama is a very special tribute of poetry and performance which I hope will introduce more people to the work of Tagore, and also highlight the influence that Shakespeare still holds for artists across the globe."

Kaberi Chatterjee added: “We are very pleased to have been invited to present Shyama at the Stratford Poetry Festival. Shyama and Tagore are held by many of the 230 million Bengali-speakers around the world in the same light as, for example, Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in the English-speaking world.”

The celebration will be held at 2pm on Saturday, 9 May at the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon. There will be a small ceremony after the film with more of Tagore’s songs at the bust of Tagore in the garden of Shakespeare’s Birthplace.