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“It Was A Very Sensitive Relationship”

The director makes a case for the film and says “the mystical love story” will have a resonance in today’s world

Pablo Cesar is no stranger to India, having been on the International Film Festival jury in Goa two years ago. A conversation with the Indian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, R. Viswanathan, led to the idea of a film on Rabindranath Tagore’s relationship with Argentinian poet and socialite Victoria Ocampo. Cesar will shoot the film later this year. In an interview with Outlook, the director makes a case for the film and says “the mystical love story” will have a resonance in today’s world. Excerpts:

Why call it a ‘mystical love story’?

Mystical because it was a very sensitive relationship for Ocampo. It was a life-altering experience for her and she understood Tagore’s view of reality. Mystical also in the sense of the deep love, the way of understanding that things in the universe are connected together. The poetry of Tagore shows a very deep insight into life, but at the same time he had the art to tell this in very simple phrases. That is the way to find love, deep love. Mystical also because Victoria Ocampo pushed Tagore to exhibit his paintings in Paris. It will be a film about the transformation of people.

What got you interested in the subject?

I love India. Many people have changed after encountering India. For example, George Harrison changed his life after coming in contact with Indian culture and after his meeting with Pandit Ravi Shankar. I believe in the possibility of change for the human race. This film will be a very nice expression of hope.

How do you intend to portray the relationship? There is a view that it may have been physical....

Intimate yet platonic. I think that’s the way it was. She was a society lady, cultured and had her share of relationships. With Tagore, it was different.

Have you decided on who is going to play Tagore?

Not yet. But obviously someone who is Bengali and handsome.

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