'यूँ ही होता है, कभी खुद पे ख़ुदा भी रोता है...'

As the story unfolds, we can make out some issues associated with three social themes that are of interest:

  • Duty: What is the scope of duty and what are its boundaries? To what extent is one’s very identity, both as perceived by him/herself or by others, characterized by his or her adherence to socially prescribed duty?
  • Nature vs. Nurture: To what relative degrees are we the products of (a) our biological inheritances compared to (b) the behavioral moldings of the environments in which we are raised? 
  • Class in India: What is the relative significance of class loyalty, as compared to more instinctual loyalties such as those of the family?

This filming of Tagore’s story is relatively faithful to the original, but since many of the episodes in the Stories by Rabindranath Tagore series are sequentially linked, there are slight narrative adjustments that serve to accommodate these linkages. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's compositions have been the directors' choice for years and many of his compositions have also been converted into films. Now after a long time, the film 'Darbaan', based on Rabindranath Tagore's short story 'Khokababar Prativartan' has been made again among the audience. Directed by director Bipin Nadkarni, the film 'Darban' has been released on the OTT platform Zee 5. A Bengali film has also been made about Uttam Kumar on this story in the year 1960 and after that now 'Darbaan' has been released in Hindi language based on this story. The film portrays the story of a zamindar and his loyal servant and has Sharib Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Rasika Duggal and Flora Saini in the lead roles.

Darbaan tells us  Duty and loyalty, and the way they affect personal affection, are manifested differently by the various characters in this story. For Raicharan, duty and loyalty fueled the genuine love he felt for the people he served. But in the end it is sad that all his sincere and innocent efforts to support the people he served, misguided though they may have been, did not have better outcomes for him.

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