Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Cesar is currently shooting Thinking of Him, primarily based on the bond shared by Rabindranath Tagore with Argentine feminist writer and cultural activist Victoria Ocampo. They had met during the bard’s visit to Argentina in 1924. Victor Banerjee plays Tagore, while Eleonora Wexner, an Argentinian actress, is Victoria.

Along with Tagore-Ocampo’s story, a contemporary plot will run parallel with Raima Sen as a Santiniketan girl forming a similar bond with Argentine history professor Felix during his quest to discover Tagore. 

t2 chatted with Pablo on Tagore, Calcutta and football, at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Salt Lake.

How’s the shoot going? 

We have been shooting in Santiniketan, Bolpur railway station, Tagore’s museum in Calcutta (Jorasanko Thakurbari), other places in Calcutta, Sunderbans... and then we will shoot in Argentina because Tagore had travelled there in 1924. We will shoot in the house where he stayed. 

You wanted to cast Amitabh Bachchan as Tagore, then you approached Naseeruddin Shah, and finally you hit it off with Victor Banerjee...

Yes, I had tried to get in touch with Amitabh Bachchan but it was through an agent. I didn’t meet him in person. I don’t think the script reached him. He is popular not only in India but also in other countries so I had thought of him.
Naseeruddin had date-related issues.

Then, I wanted a ‘real’ Bengali actor to play Tagore. I thought that the actor must be from Bengal because human beings are similar everywhere, but their expressions are different. I met Victor at his Mussoorie house. He was impressed with the script and he loves poetry, Tagore and Argentinian writers so we had a nice connect.

What touched your heart about the Tagore-Ocampo story that you wanted to make it into a film? 

Tagore was a huge influence in my life. I first read Kabir’s poetry translated by him. Then I read Gitanjali and his other works. I was fascinated by him. We researched for three years. What Tagore and Victoria shared was an absolutely platonic relationship. Victoria had a strong admiration and she looked after him when he was sick. There was no evidence of any other kind. So we will not indulge in any imagination. If someone wants to imagine, then they are free to do so. We will stick to facts  and not recreate anything.

The theme of education in the film is most important. The story gave me the possibility to tell today’s people what kind of change is needed in the education system. Through the film, I want to tell the world that if we continue to follow Tagore’s principles, we will have freedom in the soul and mind and there won’t be any discrimination. Santiniketan had no restrictions based on religion as he had made the place open for everybody.

The other contemporary story in Thinking of Him is about a professor in history, who landed up in Santiniketan with no knowledge about the place. Tagore songs will also be used. 

Have you been to Calcutta before? 

I love India! I have come here many times. I had come to Calcutta in 1998 during the International Film Festival to show one of my films and also in 1994 at the International Film Festival of India to present Grey Fire.

Calcuttans love Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona and can’t get enough of Lionel Messi.… 

(Cuts in) Yeah, I know! (Laughs) All of us (pointing at his crew members) play football so maybe on the last day of the shoot, we will have a match between Calcutta and Argentina! (Smiles) 

Non-set pictures: Pabitra Das