The Storyteller: A mesmerizing tale woven with wit, wisdom, and wonder

Leisurely paced with a highly authentic feel, The Storyteller is filmmaker Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's tribute to the genius of Satyajit Ray, whose short story on originality versus plagiarism transforms in to a memorable movie with superfine performances from its two male leads.

Interestingly, Ananth Mahadevan casts real life Gujarati Paresh Rawal as the Bengali storyteller Tarini while Adil Hussain, whose roots are Assamese, plays the Gujarati businessman Garodia. Tarini is hired by Garodia to narrate stories to him as an intended cure for his insomania. Garodia relishes the original stories of Tarini but still doesn't get sleep.

The screenplay, though sluggish, has its unexpected twists and turns, keeping the viewer engaged throughout. Tarini's interaction with Garodia as well as his man-friday has a tinge of humour. The bylanes of Kolkata with those hand-pulled rickshaws, crowded fish markets and Durga Puja festivities are beautifully captured.

Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, both excellent actors, are perfectly utilised here; their contrasting characters in sync with each other. Tannishtha Chatterjee, as the friendly librarian, leaves a mighty impression in a small role. Revathi makes her presence felt in a cameo type appearance.

The Storyteller is an elaborately prepared sumptuous meal, which will certainly appeal to your creative buds. Just like the Hilsa fish curry, which Tarini relishes. Yum!!

Ratings on some key aspects* :
1. Acting : 4/5
2. Direction : 4/5
3. Music : 3.5/5
4. Story, Screenplay and Dialogue : 4/5
5. Cinematography : 3.5/5
6. Editing : 3/5
7. Costume Design : 3.5/5
8. Special Effects and VFX : NA
9. Action : NA
10. Production Quality : 3.5/5

#SNRating for #TheStoryTeller : 4 stars out of 5.

- Sumeet Nadkarni

* - The overall film rating is not a simple average of all ratings on key aspects but a weighted average of the ratings where some crucial aspects (like direction, acting, story and screenplay etc) are assigned more weightage than others.

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#SNRatings barometer:
1 star = Poor
1 & 1/2 star = Below average/ Avoidable
2 stars = Average
2 & 1/2 stars = Above average/ Risk it
3 stars = Good enough/ Endurable
3 & 1/2 stars = Definitely worth a watch
4 stars = Very good
5 stars = Masterpiece/ Outstanding.

2025 SNRatings.