A child of a noble family. Born and brought up in Jorasanko Tagore house, the seat of education, literature, culture. Later for whom the whole world will know Thakurbari. Another was born in a poor family in a disreputable village called Churulia in Burdwan. Who has to leave home in childhood. He had to join the army in search of other resources. Then the uncertain life of Calcutta. The two are not supposed to meet. But each other’s lives were lost. Because the second one had already become one of the greatest poets of Bengali language after coping with the struggle of living. And with that the second one had infinite Rabindrapreeti. Rabindranath and Nazrul Islam. Pages after pages will be written about the various incidents of their personal relationships. Let’s look back at one such moment on the birthday of the rebel poet.
Nazrul Islam loved Rabindra Sangeet so much that he never got tired of singing Rabindra Sangeet for hours. Preeti sees his Rabindra music Muzaffar Ahmed used to say Hafiz of Nazrul Rabindra Sangeet (those who recite the Qur’an are called ‘Hafiz’). Visva Bharati blocked that Nazrul Islam’s Rabindra Sangeet as having ‘Khunt’.
It was 1938. Then Nazrul Islam played the role of music director. He has already directed music in several films like ‘Dhruv’, ‘Patalpuri’, ‘Mukti’, ‘Sapude’, ‘Vidyapati’. After that, Nazrul got the responsibility of music direction in the movie ‘Gora’ of the film ‘Devdatta’. The film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novel. At that time, to record Rabindranath’s songs or to use them in a film, one had to take the permission of the ‘Vishvabharati’ Sangeet Board. Meanwhile, Nazrul could not even think that when he was in charge of ‘Sangeet’ director, there would be any objection from Visva Bharati. So no separate permission was taken.
‘Gora’ was released on 30 July 1938. A special exhibition of the film was arranged a couple of days before that. An inspector from Visva Bharati Sangeet Board came to see the film. He found various ‘pillars’ of Rabindra Sangeet directed by Nazrul in the film. And that’s why ‘Vishwabharati’ did not allow the use of music in the film. The release of the film was stalled. The producer of the film then has his hand on his head.
Stubborn Nazrul is not a quitter. The Rabindra Sangeet conducted by him could not be approved by Visva Bharati. Satan left for Santiniketan with a copy of the film and a small projection machine. The intention is to obtain permission from Rabindranath himself to release the song.
Meanwhile, Rabindranath was surprised by Nazrul’s sudden appearance but was also quite happy. Before that, he requested Nazrul to come to Santiniketan many times. This time he asked to leave for a few days. On the other hand, Nazrul said that he ran to Shantinetan in danger. Rabindranath is quite upset after hearing all this. It is known from Bandhan Sengupta’s ‘Rabindranath’s Eyes of Nazrul’ that the poet said to Nazrul, ‘Ki Kanda Baalta? You taught my song and they are in any sense to blame him? Will they understand my song more than you? Can they pay more for my music?’ Nazrul was convinced by the poet’s words. He also told Rabindranath that the film will not be released without written permission. So he brought the film with him to see Gurudev. Let Rabindranath see the film once and give permission.
The poet’s reply to Nazrul’s words, ‘I want to show the picture, show it to everyone, everyone will be happy’ for now, give me what to sign. Rabindranath himself approved Rabindra Sangeet directed by Nazrul, rejecting Visva Bharati’s objection. ‘Gora’ was released on a certain day. Rabindranath had so much love and trust for Anuj. And just like that, Nazrul could have run to Rabindranath for no reason. He used to get so much affection and indulgence from the elder.
Tags: Rabindra Sangeet directed Nazrul Visva Bharati Rabindranath role savior
