Gora TV Serial - Doordarshan DD National (DD1)

The television show Gora is taken from the famous author Rabindranath Tagore’s book of the same name. Gora is his second novel and probably one of the best that he has written. The story is very real life. It is a conflict over ideas. The serial deals with a debate between modernity and traditions. It displays arguments both for and against the norms of the Indian society. The background of the story is in Calcutta. Gourmohan who is known as Gora to his friends belongs to an orthodox Hindu family. He thinks that the existing social order and ideas can change only if the British leave the country. He thus leaves everything and takes up the mission to create the ideal society. On being forced by his parents, he reluctantly goes to meet Paresh Bhattacharya’s family who has four daughters to talk about marriage. However, he meets Anandbabu there who gives his ideas on the evils present in society which are not liked by Gora. The purpose of Gora going to meet the family stays unfulfilled as he does not like any of the four women. The story then moves to Gora’s ideas and what he does to change the existing social conditions in the country. The serial deals with a lot of meaningful content and tries to bring to light the situations and ideas of the society that existed in those days. It both entertains the audience and also educates them. The serial deals with issues of the lower cast, the driven out ones, and also the condition of women. It also talks about the class differences in various aspects. Basically, through the story, the pre-independence era is shown. It is portrayed really well in the show. The channel where Gora ran is Doordarshan. It was constant in its attempt to bring out serials that create a difference. The debate that exists today between traditional values and modernity which exist even today are dealt with in the show. The serial is also presented really well. Renowned filmmaker Gargi Sen has produced the serial. Somnath Sen, who is known for his works in cinema, is the director. The music is by Dabbu and Sanjoy who have used Tagore’s prolific music of that period. His inspiration is the Baul music of Bengal. Turning a story by Rabindranath Tagore into a TV show is a pretty difficult task for they makers have to stand up to the expectations and make sure the quality of the show does not degrade in front of the book. The makers of Gora have done full justice to the show. Gaurav Dwivedi played Gora has succeeded in his part. The serial also casts some amazing talents like Swati Sen, Prabhat Raghunandan, Anuya Bhagwat, Chandrahas Tiwari, and Joyshree Arora. The direction is also excellent. The show really stands up to the expectations of the audience.