'''''Natir Puja''''' (''The dancing girl's worship'', 1932) is the only film where [[Rabindranath Tagore]] is credited as director.<ref name="Gooptu2011">{{cite book|author=Sharmistha Gooptu|title=Bengali Cinema: An Other Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzEdHF5UYcMC&pg=PA46|accessdateaccess-date=16 December 2012|year=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-57006-0|pages=46–}}</ref><ref name="16th KFF: Rabindranath Tagore on Celluloid">{{cite web|title=16th KFF: Rabindranath Tagore on Celluloid|url=http://www.bollywoodtrade.com/trade-news/16th-kff-rabindranath-tagore-on-celluloid/index.htm|publisher=Bollywood Trade|accessdateaccess-date=15 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen1999">{{cite book|author1=Ashish Rajadhyaksha|author2=Paul Willemen|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0EOAQAAMAAJ|accessdateaccess-date=16 December 2012|date=26 June 1999|publisher=British Film Institute|page=623}}</ref> This film is a recording of Tagore's 1926 stage dance-drama.<ref name="Natir Puja revisited (documentary)">{{cite web|title=Natir Puja revisited (documentary)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp6Js9pAOwc|accessdateaccess-date=15 December 2012}}</ref>
== Background ==
Line 38:
== Release and reception ==
After completion of shooting and editing, the 10,577-foot-long film version was released on 22 March 1932 at Chitra, Calcutta.<ref name=Gooptu2011 /><ref name="Tagore1961">{{cite book|author=Rabindranath Tagore|title=A centenary volume, 1861-1961|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJYRAQAAMAAJ|accessdateaccess-date=16 December 2012|year=1961|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|page=493}}</ref> Because of Tagore's presence in the film, it was expected that the film would be well received by viewers. The producers of the film agreed to donate fifty per cent of the film's proceeds into Tagore's Santiniketan project. But, the film was a commercial failure. Later, the staginess of the film was blamed for this commercial failure.<ref name=Gooptu2011 /> B. N. Sircar felt the short shooting schedule of the film was the reason of the commercial failure.<ref name="The Glory that Was: An Exploration of the Iconicity of New Theatres">{{cite web|title=The Glory that Was: An Exploration of the Iconicity of New Theatres|url=http://www.cssaame.com/issues/23/33.pdf|accessdateaccess-date=15 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811112318/http://www.cssaame.com/issues/23/33.pdf|archive-date=11 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
However, some Bengali critics applauded the film for its "aesthetic values" (or Tagorean qualities).<ref name=Gooptu2011 /> ''The Bengalee'' newspaper wrote in their review:<ref name=Gooptu2011 />
