The Storyteller: The Struggle Between Art and the Market

– Kalpana Pandey

Anant Mahadevan’s film The Storyteller (2025), based on Satyajit Ray’s short story Galpo Boliyé Tarini Khuro, centers on the clash between genuine labor and capitalism. The film follows two diametrically opposed personalities: Tarini Bandyopadhyay (Paresh Rawal), an elderly Bengali storyteller rooted in communist ideals, and Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), a wealthy Gujarati businessman plagued by insomnia. Their conflicting worlds expose how creativity is exploited in a profit-driven system. The film is not just entertainment—it raises profound questions: Who truly owns a story? Who deserves credit? And how does an artist resist the commodification of their craft?

The Storyteller critiques the misuse of art and the exploitation of artists. Tarini, a jovial raconteur steeped in Bengal’s literary traditions, is hired by Ratan to narrate bedtime stories to cure his insomnia. What begins as a simple arrangement soon reveals Ratan’s true nature. Despite his wealth, Ratan fails to impress Saraswati (Revathi), his intelligent, cultured love interest. To win her affection, he plagiarizes Tarini’s oral tales, publishing them under the pseudonym "Gujju Gorky" to gain fame. This intellectual theft mirrors capitalism’s exploitation of creative labor—ghostwriters, artists, and workers—to generate profit.

The film contrasts Kolkata’s Bengali culture with Ahmedabad’s capitalist ethos. Tarini’s Kolkata brims with tradition and communal joy—fish markets, historic buildings, and stories passed through generations. Here, storytelling is collective heritage, not ownership. In contrast, Ratan’s Ahmedabad mansion embodies capitalist excess: opulent furniture, unread bookshelves, and Picasso prints hung for show. The film mocks this hollow "culture," where art and stories lose their soul to commercialization. Capitalism homogenizes diverse cultures into marketable products, erasing their uniqueness. Ratan, a staunch vegetarian with contradictory habits, asks his servant, “Did you feed the fish?” and “Did you feed the fish to [Tarini]?”—highlighting his transactional view of value. Kolkata’s collective joy and Ahmedabad’s sterile grandeur symbolize this cultural clash.

A recurring metaphor in the film is a cat forced to eat vegetarian food. When it secretly steals fish from Ratan’s aquarium, its struggle between natural instincts and imposed rules mirrors Tarini’s fight for creative freedom. The vegetarian diet symbolizes cultural suppression, while the stolen fish represents reclaiming identity. Tarini, understanding the cat’s nature, feeds it fish and takes it to Kolkata when he leaves Ahmedabad. This journey symbolizes cultural liberation from capitalist constraints. The cat’s arc reflects Tarini and Ratan’s dynamic—exploitation versus emancipation.

The film portrays its female characters as strong and independent. Saraswati, a principled widow, rejects Ratan after discovering his theft: “I could accept a businessman’s ethics, not a thief’s,” she declares, walking away. In this moment, the wealthy Ratan appears powerless. Saraswati values wisdom over wealth, while Suzi (Tanishtha Chatterjee), a librarian, embodies confidence and intellectual curiosity. Tarini’s late wife, who gifted him a pen, remains his enduring muse. These women challenge stereotypes, reflecting Satyajit Ray’s progressive vision. They symbolize autonomy and ethics, with Saraswati’s departure marking the triumph of principles over materialism.

Unlike fast-paced modern cinema, The Storyteller invites viewers to slow down and savor life’s depth. Mahadevan’s deliberate pacing, paired with Alphonse Roy’s cinematography, captures Kolkata’s hand-pulled rickshaws and Ahmedabad’s marble opulence. This meditative style contrasts sharply with today’s flashy edits, emphasizing art’s enduring power. The film teaches that true creativity demands patience—crafted not through haste, but sacrifice and courage. To grasp life’s essence, one must embrace slowness and reflection.

The stellar cast elevates the film. Paresh Rawal shines as Tarini, who responds to Ratan’s betrayal with quiet resistance, staying in his house for months to teach him a lesson. Adil Hussain masterfully portrays Ratan—a capitalist trapped by his insecurities.

The Storyteller is more than a homage to Ray—it forces us to rethink art’s role in a profit-obsessed world. The film exposes how capitalism devalues creative labor, yet suggests that authenticity can resist these pressures. In the end, both Tarini and Ratan begin writing: Tarini to reclaim his stories, Ratan to seek redemption. Their transformation hints at hope but leaves a lingering question: Is the battle between capitalism and art truly so simple?

When Tarini finally writes to assert his identity, he takes control of his creativity. The film mocks a world where stealing ideas is easier than creating them. As Tarini quips, “Even copying requires brains,” he satirizes a system that commodifies imagination. The Storyteller is a rallying cry to reclaim creativity from market forces and restore dignity to labor.

– Kalpana Pandey 

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