Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 30, 2019)

Filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar is gearing up to bring a classic Bengali story to the big screen. He is planning a biopic on Notee Binodini (Binodini Dasi), the prima donna of Bengali theatre, and the first woman in India to become a notable stage performer from the Bengal Presidency in the 1870s. Sarkar has partnered with scholar Shibashish Bandhopadhay to develop the screenplay for the film, which will roll out soon.

He told BT, “I have been looking into her story for some time now. It just so happened that I got to know Shibashish, who has thoroughly explored the subject. Notee Binodini was the first-of-her-kind. She started performing when she was still in her teens, and in a matter of 10 years, she had gone off the stage. Many people, including Ramakrishna Paramhans, have watched her perform. She’s a fascinating person and her story is captivating.”

Sarkar has often showcased his love for Bangla literature and culture on the big screen. His first feature film, Parineeta (2005), was an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s eponymous novel. With Notee Binodini, he is returning to the bylanes of his home city, albeit in another era.

“Parineeta was a fictional character, who Vidya Balan adapted in her own way. But Notee Binodini was a real person and whoever plays her, will have to adapt themselves to her body language and mannerisms. Her life and what led to her early exit from the world of theatre are fascinating. We haven’t decided if we’ll make a Bangla-Hindi bilingual or keep it to Hindi alone, but it’s a story that will appeal to a lot of people in India.”

Notee Binodini’s life has previously been adapted for the big screen in a Bangla film called Nati Binodini (1994), starring Prasenjit and Debashree Roy. Her life has also inspired a Bangla play, which was based on her autobiography. Bring this up and Sarkar says, “I haven’t seen the film or the play. My film is strictly based on Shibashish’s research. The screenplay will be structured in a manner that we can accommodate a large part of her story.”