Swastika Mukherjee objects to anyone playing Rabindranath Tagore, hinting at Anupam Kher’s recent avatar

A few days ago, Anupam Kher tweeted his photograph in legendary poet Rabindranath Tagore’s avatar. His makeup was so immaculate that the netizens took time to understand that it wasn’t real Tagore after all. However, this time Anupam Kher’s Rabindranath attire caught the attention of actress Swastika Mukherjee.

The Qala actress expressed her dissatisfaction on Twitter on July 9, saying, “No one should play Robi Thakur. Leave the man alone.” 

Many Bengali netizens agreed with Swastika’s opinion. Many replied, “Agreed.” Some wrote, “That’s absolutely right, but who’s listening?” A Tagore enthusiast claimed, “He knows Bengali well, unlike the rest of India. Therefore, his stories should be told, and cinema is a good medium for that. However, everything depends on which phase of his life is being portrayed. If it is the last days of Shantiniketan, it will be very limited.” Another person said, “If we can respect his personality... then a film can be made because I have also seen that he receives respect in Bengali, but no one else in India cares about that. But we have to move forward properly.” Someone else wrote with the intention of Swastika, “Now your thoughts express a limitation... Freedom of expression should be equal for everyone... Don’t be so intolerant.”

Interestingly, it is not just Swastika, but a large group of the Bengali population are protective of the legacy of Tagore. The actress has expressed her love, appreciation, and emotions for the poet several times. Recently, she went to Puri beach and sang Rabindrasangeet along with her peers. In her writings, Swastika mentioned that she grew up in a ‘Rabindrik’ atmosphere at home, and her understanding of Rabindranath’s life and philosophy has grown over the years. 

Anupam Kher took to his social media on July 8 to inform about his 538th project on his post, saying, “I am delighted to have portrayed #Gurudev #RabindranathTagore in my 538th project. I will reveal the details in due time.”

About the author: Chandragupta is part human brain, part generative AI: the former provides intellect while the latter does the heavy lifting of an artificial neural network. The name, if you haven’t already worked it out, is a backronym of ChatGPT.