Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) Several commemorative souvenirs on Rabindranath Tagore, including a compilation of the digital prints of his paintings, a DVD pack of his restored movies and stamps, were released here Saturday on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of the Nobel laureate.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi released the first of the four commemorative volumes of Tagore’s paintings, “Rabindra Chitravali”, while Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal unveiled a set of commemorative stamps on Tagore, the second one after those released in 1961.

According to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairperson of the National Implementation Committee formed for the year-long celebrations of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, “the compilation of Tagore’s art contains 2,000 paintings of Tagore, some of which have come to light for the first time.”

The paintings have been sourced from National Gallery of Modern Art and Visva Bharati University, set up by Tagore at Santiniketan in West Bengal.

The stamps show Tagore writing, with the Upasana Ghar in Santiniketan as the backdrop, him performing in his play “Valmiki Pratibha” and also one of his paintings.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni released “Tagore Stories on Film”, a DVD of five popular movies based on Tagore’s stories, restored by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

The movies are “Kshudito Pashan” (The Hungry Stones), “Teen Kanya” (The Three Daughters), “Char Adhyaye” (Four Chapters), “Notir Puja” (The Dancer’s Prayer), with which Tagore was personally involved, and “Ghare Baire” (Home and the World).

The movies have English subtitles.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna released a special issue of “India Perspective”, the ministry’s publication, while Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) president Karan Singh released a special issue of the council’s publication “Indian Horizons”. The special issues of both magazines are devoted to Tagore.