MUMBAI: Sharib Hashmi's latest role could come across as a big challenge, if you are seeped in the classics and the written works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Sharib's new film is "Darbaan", based on Tagore's Bengali short story "Khokababur Pratyabartan". The tale has been memorably adapted for screen in 1960, by way of the classic Bengali film of the same name starring the late icon Uttam Kumar. Sharib essays the same role in "Darbaan", a Hindi adaptation of the Tagore story.

In the film, Sharib plays Raicharan, caretaker of the infant son of a rich household, who is fated to get entangled in a tragedy involving the child.

"Do not compare me with a legend like Uttam Kumar. I am nowhere close to his calibre as an actor. I have tried my best to deliver my performance to create the wonderful character of Raicharan, but he was a legend," Sharib told IANS, underplaying all talk of comparison.

He added: "It is a very heart-touching short story by Tagore sahab and we all know the story. It is beautifully adapted into a feature screenplay by (director) Bipin (Nadkarni) sir, and I have to say that the story is so engaging that I read it in one go."

The film also features Sharad Kelkar, Rasika Dugal, and Flora Saini, and it releases on December 4 on the OTT platform Zee5.