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| The Storyteller: The Conflict between Art and the Market | | 
By Kalpana Pandey
Based on Satyajit Ray’s short story "Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro," Ananth Mahadevan’s film The Storyteller (2025) centers on the conflict between authentic labour and money. The film focuses on two very different characters: Tarini Bandyopadhyay (Paresh Rawal), an elderly Bengali storyteller with communist ideals, and Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), a wealthy Gujarati businessman who hasn’t been able to sleep for years as an insomniac. Their contrasting worlds show how a profit-driven system often exploits creative work. The film’s story isn’t just entertaining—it explores who really owns stories, who gets credit, and how the creator fights back against this exploitation.
In The Storyteller, we see how art is misused in real life. Tarini, who has a deep passion for storytelling nurtured in the rich literary traditions of Bengal, is hired by Ratan Garodia, a rich cloth merchant from Ahmedabad suffering from chronic insomnia. At first, the arrangement appears simple, but Ratan’s true nature soon emerges. Despite his wealth, Ratan failed to impress his once-rejected, refined former lover Saraswati (Revathi) with his money. Instead, he exploits Tarini’s fresh, oral stories by passing them off as his own work, trying to make his mark on Saraswati. This act of stealing ideas powerfully symbolizes how capitalist systems often exploit the creative work of ordinary people—like ghostwriters, artists, and working-class creatives—to generate profit.
Tarini is afraid to write and publish his stories because he fears criticism, failure, and not selling well. Ratan, a true businessman and a symbol of capitalist opportunism, takes advantage of Tarini’s spontaneous stories by publishing them under his own name. This act of theft is not just a plot twist—it is a clear example of how the capitalist system routinely steals the hard work and creativity of the working class for profit. The wealthy businessman who steals Tarini’s stories feels no moral guilt; he calmly smiles as he uses the storyteller’s work to achieve his own goals, rarely feeling that anything is wrong. This is the central theme of Satyajit Ray’s story: how capitalism exploits the hard work and creativity of ordinary people.
The Storyteller also shows how powerful cultures can overshadow smaller, local ones. The film compares two very different worlds: the Bengali culture of Kolkata and the Gujarati culture of Ahmedabad. In Kolkata, where Tarini lives, the city feels vibrant and steeped in tradition—with bustling fish markets, historic old buildings, and stories passed down through generations. Here, storytelling isn’t about owning ideas; it is like a community treasure shared by everyone.
In contrast, Ratan Garodia’s mansion in Ahmedabad represents the cold, emotionless side of capitalism. His home is filled with expensive furniture, costly books that are never read, and pricey artworks like Picasso prints, all of which serve only to show off his wealth and status. The film criticizes this kind of “culture” where art and stories lose their soul and are merely packaged for sale, causing the unique character of regional traditions to disappear. Capitalism transforms diverse cultures into a uniform, market-friendly form, stripping them of their distinctiveness and beauty. The collective joy of Kolkata and the emptiness of the mansion in Ahmedabad symbolize this struggle.
The film’s message is about how artistic integrity can both protect and challenge capitalist pressures. In the end, Tarini and Ratan begin to write each other’s stories. Tarini starts writing his stories to protect his intellectual property and reclaim his identity, while Ratan also begins to write. Both characters undergo a transformation, although the ending feels very idealistic. When the strictly vegetarian Ratan, known for his contradictory behavior, asks his servant if he fed the fish and gave feed the fish, referring Tarini as fish feed, it exposes the true cost of his actions.
In this film, a cat—naturally inclined to crave fish—is forced to eat vegetarian food. Eventually, it rebels by stealing fish from its owner’s tank. The cat’s struggle between its innate desire for fish and the imposed vegetarian diet serves as a metaphor for the tension between primal instincts and societal constraints. Forced to suppress its biological needs, the theft symbolizes defiance against artificial control, highlighting themes of autonomy and the futility of denying natural urges. The vegetarian food represents oppressive norms or misguided ideals, while the stolen fish embodies authenticity and self-fulfillment. Ethically, the act questions whether survival or conformity holds greater moral weight, critiquing systems that force individuals into unnatural roles. Whether seen as a triumphant rebellion or a cautionary tale, the story mirrors broader struggles—resisting societal expectations or reclaiming identity—underscoring the universal conflict between nature and nurture, freedom and control. Tarini, who understands the true nature of the cat, feeds it fish. When Tarini leaves Ahmedabad, he takes the cat with him to Kolkata, where he continues to nourish it with fish.
The film’s key female characters are portrayed as independent and strong. The widow Saraswati (Revathi) is smart and values her own principles. She tells Ratan, "I might have managed with a businessman’s values, but not with a thief," and leaves him with her best wishes. Ratan appears weak and helpless in comparison. Saraswati values knowledge and wisdom over material wealth, showing that true strength comes from within. The librarian Suzi (Tanishtha Chatterjee) is also shown as confident and offers her unique perspective. Even the memory of Tarini’s late wife, who gifted him a pen to write, becomes a lasting source of inspiration, highlighting the powerful influence women have on art and creativity. These women are not the pitiable figures of old literature but are strong characters created by Satyajit Ray’s progressive vision, giving the story a rich, positive dimension.
Unlike the fast pace of modern films, The Storyteller invites viewers to slow down and savor the details of human life. Mahadevan deliberately uses a slow, thoughtful pace, while Alphonse Roy’s beautiful cinematography captures nostalgic scenes like hand-pulled rickshaws in Kolkata and the grand marble buildings in Ahmedabad. This calm, almost meditative style is very different from today’s quick cuts and flashy editing. By providing a reflective and immersive experience, the film emphasizes the lasting power of art that is created slowly. It teaches us that real art takes time—it is a process that cannot be rushed but requires patience, sacrifice and courage. To truly understand life and the essence of a story, taking time to pause and reflect is the real strength of art.
The impact of the film is further enhanced by its lead actors. Paresh Rawal gives a strong performance as Tarini. When Tarini realizes the deceit by Ratan, he thoughtfully and calmly confronts him by staying at his house for three to four months. He rejects being objectified and rebels, proving to be a supportive and thoughtful comrades, friends and family member despite being a common man. On the other hand, Ratan appears as a lonely rich man. Adil Hussain portrays Ratan Garodia, a capitalist caught in his own insecurities, with great restraint.
The Storyteller is not just a retelling of Satyajit Ray’s classic—it forces us to rethink the role of art in a society driven by profit. The film shows how the capitalist system exploits creative work and devalues it. When Tarini finally begins to write his stories to establish his identity, he takes steps to reclaim control over his creativity. The film is all about this struggle. When Tarini humorously remarks, "Even copying requires brains," he mocks a world where stealing ideas is easier than creating them. The Storyteller is a story about reclaiming creativity from the market and giving justice to those who work hard to create.
(You can reach Author Kalpana Pandey (9082574315) [email protected])
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