The Storyteller, starring Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Last Updated: 01.42 PM, Jan 29, 2025
Ananth Mahadevan's The Storyteller, starring Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, is based on the legendary Satyajit Ray's short story, Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro. Even though some scenes are indeed different from the original story, the film earned praise for its own terms. It follows a storyteller and a rich businessman. The storyteller who does not like to contribute his stories to magazines meets the businessman. The latter wants to hear 'unique' short stories from him as he is unable to sleep. Later, the storyteller found out that the businessman stole his stories and published them without his knowledge. What will happen to their friendship? Will the storyteller (Tarini) take revenge on the businessman (Garodia)?
Tarini Bandyopadhyay (Paresh Rawal) neither likes to contribute his stories to magazines nor is happy about traveling abroad to be with his son or sticking to one job. He has done 73 jobs in total. He always has been passionate about storytelling and one day came across a job offer in the newspaper for a storyteller. He went to Ahmedabad to become a personal storyteller to businessman Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), who has chronic insomnia.
Days after Ratan learned that Tarini had no interest in publishing his 'unique' stories so he took the chance. Ratan published Tarini's stories without informing him and earned huge recognition within a few days. However, Tarini faced reality when he went to the library and saw a magazine that had stories of him but by the pen name, Gorkhe. He understood that it was Ratan Garodia. Even after knowing it all, Tarini continued his storytelling job at Garodia's house.
Now, comes the climax. During a story release event of Ratan Garodia, he was asked to meet the authorities of the Rabindranath Tagore Foundation. They informed him that Ratan had been copying Tagore's work and publishing them as his own. He faced copyright issues with a fine of Rs. 10 lakh. Then the scene showed Tarini telling his family members how he tricked Ratan by telling him Tagore's stories because Ratan had little knowledge about literature. So, Ratan thought Tagore's works were actually Tarini's.
The last scene showed Tarini finally taking the pen, gifted by his late wife and starting to write his own story of how he met Ratan. On the other hand, Ratan also began writing the story of Tarini. The ending scene beautifully captured the lead actors discovering their true selves.
Apart from Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, the film also stars Anindita Bose, Rohit Mukherjee, Revathy, and Tannishtha Chatterjee among others. Produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Salil Chaturvedi, Suchhanda Chatterjee, and Shubha Shetty, The Storyteller is backed by Jio Studios, Purpose Entertainment, and Quest Films. The music is composed by Hriju Roy.