Telling Tall Tales

The Storyteller | Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan | Cast: Paresh Rawal, Adil Hussain | Disney+Hotstar

 

There is a moral in the story somewhere and it comes almost towards the end of the film: the capitalism of Gujarat needs the storytelling of Bengal to survive. Based on a story by Satyajit Ray, The Storyteller is a clever take on the clash between commerce and art. A cotton baron from Ahmedabad seeks a storyteller from Bengal to put him to sleep—something that has been eluding him for the past 30 years. The storyteller from Kolkata, jaded with his widower’s life, decides to undertake the adventure and settles down in the cotton baron’s mansion, tell­ing him a new story every night. Are these his own, or do they belong to someone else? Good artists copy, says the enigmatic storyteller, great artists steal. Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain play the storyteller and cotton baron respectively and there is a smart cameo by Revathy. It’s a slow burning delight.

 

 

Adil HussainAnanth Narayan MahadevanentertainmentParesh Rawalstreaming businessThe Storyteller