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New film on Tagore ready for global theatres

New film on Tagore ready for global theatres

Cannes, May 20 (UNI) A new film on iconic poet Rabindranath Tagore is creating ripples at the 70th Cannes film festival.
'Thinking of Him', a co-production between India and Argentina, has hit the global film circuit in the Cannes film market with distributors from several countries showing interest in the movie.
Actor Victor Banerjee plays the Nobel Prize-winning poet in the film, which tells the story of the relationship between Tagore and Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo.
The film, which has just been completed after shooting in Santiniketan, Kolkata and Buenos Aires last year, is co-produced by Delhi-based producer-filmmaker Suraj Kumar.
Directed by Argentine filmmaker Pablo Cesar, 'Thinking of Him' has been in the post-production phase in the past few months.
"The film is ready," said Kumar, who arrived in Cannes earlier this week for meeting with international distributors.
"It is a story of Tagore that the world is waiting to hear," he added.
The cast also include Raima Sen and Argentine actor Eleonora Wexler, who plays Victoria Ocampo.
"I have received meeting requests from many Latin American cou tries, who are eager to show the film to their audiences," said Kumar, an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Tagore met Ocampo in 1924 when he was forced to stop in Argentina while on a visit to the neighbouring Peru.
Tagore taken taken ill and Ocampo volunteered to look after him, nursing him in her home in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Tagore, who met Ocampo only once again, in Paris in 1930, wrote many letters to the Argentine writer.
Tagore called her Bijoya and dedicated his collection of poems, 'Purabi' (1925) to Ocampo.
"The film is a significant contribution to the memory of Tagore," said Suraj, who was born in Nalanda district of Bihar.
"It is a story to be told to an international audience because it says there are no borders between relationships," he added.
'Thonking of Him' is the first feature film produced by Kumar, whose production house Johnsons-Suraj Film International has made scores of documentaries in India.
After completing the shooting in India a year ago, Kumar and his production team travelled to Argentina to complete the shooting in Buenos Aires.
In Buenos Aires, Kumar's production team also built a set to recreate Tagore and Ocampo's final meeting in Paris.
"We had planned to shoot the second and last meeting between Tagore and Ocampo in Paris itself, but later decided to shoot the scenes in a set in Buenos Aires," Kumar said.
Kumar said he was optimistic that the film, which was sent to Cannes film festival for official selection this year, would be selected for the prestigious festival.
"The Cannes stage would have been ideal for the world premiere of a film on Tagor," he said.
"We are now hoping to premiere the film in Venice or Toronto," he added.
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