Director Suman Mukhopadhyay talks about his big screen adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's Shesher Kabita

Shesher Kabita, published in 1929, was one of the last novels Rabindranath Tagore wrote and also one of the strangest. It is a love story between two people who only quote poetry to each other and converse in long, lyrical homilies on all kinds of things and, instead of settling down happily ever after, decide to marry other people. No wonder, filmmakers had given Shesher Kabita the go-by despite the novel being one of Tagore's most loved and read works. Until now, that is.

Suman Mukhopadhyay's adaptation of the novel into a film starring Rahul Bose (as Amit Ray) and Konkona Sen Sharma (Lavanya) has finally been released, and the acclaimed director says he is happy with audience response, especially as not too many are accusing him of tinkering with the original, or not doing justice to the text – always a danger with Bengali viewers who are fanatical about Tagore. "There have been some comments about how this was not how Lavanya and Amit would look, but thankfully, at the cinematic level, people seem to be responding positively," says Mukhopadhyay.

The film was commissioned by the Indian government way back in 2010 as part of its plans to commemorate the Nobel Laureate's 150th birth anniversary. Ready in 2013, Shesher Kabita premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival, but was then caught in a tug-of-war between the ministries of culture and information and broadcasting. It's only now, this August 7 – the 73rd death anniversary of the poet, and three years past his 150th year – that the film released in India.

Mukhopadhyay's career is unusual in that he's only ever directed adaptations of literary classics, both for stage and cinema. Shesher Kabita is the second time he's adapting Tagore. In 2008, he'd made Chaturanga, another difficult-to-adapt film about a man's search for salvation. In 2005, his debut film, Herbert, was based on Nabarun Bhattacharjee's Sahitya Akademi Award winning-novel and won the National Award. His next, called Prince of Metiabruz, will be in Hindi. It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in modern times.

"Originality is never an issue with me. Is Pather Panchali not an original film? Originality comes from cinematic perception, on how you are interpreting the narrative in a cinematic context, not on whether it is taken from a story or novel. Shakespeare was often accused of plagiarism because many of his stories were taken from Holinshed's Chronicles, but what was important was how he interpreted them dramatically," Mukhopadhyay points out.

Judged by that yardstick, Mukhopadhyay's Shesher Kabita succeeds in transforming Tagore's lyrical, rather discursive novel into tightly-scripted, moving cinema. Most of the poetry – except for the last iconic verse – is left out. The focus remains on the characters, dressed in some lovely period costumes by designers Dev R Nil, and their motivations, set against the rich greens and billowing mists of rain-washed Shillong.