Three decades after a challenging interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's pro-women hero Nikhilesh in Satyajit Ray's Ghare Baire, Victor Banerjee will relive the poet's own deep and sublime relationship with Argentine writer and thinker Victoria Ocampo.

Banerjee was chosen from among stalwarts, such as Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah and Ben Kingsley, to play the role of Tagore in an upcoming Indian-Argentinian co-production. The film, to be directed by Argentine filmmaker Pablo Cesar, will delve into the and relationship between Tagore and Ocampo. Ocampo, whom Tagore addressed in his letters as Bijoya, took care of the poet when he fell ill in Buenos Aires while he was sailing to Peru from Europe in 1924. Tagore spent two months recuperating in a villa in San Isidro in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Ocampo read French translation of Tagore's Gitanjali in 1914. Tagore dedicated Purabi, a collection of poems and songs, to Ocampo. In 1930, Ocampo organised the poet's first art exhibition in Paris, where they met in person for the second and last time. Argentine actor Eleonara Wexler will play Ocampo in the film that will also have Raima Sen, says JNU alumni and creative director of the film Suraj Kumar.

The 69-year-old Banerjee tells TOI from his Mussorie home that it is an honour to play Kabiguru in an international production. “I am not concerned much about the look. It is not a biopic. It is about Tagore's intellectual pursuit, thought process, his impression on Ocampo. People of Argentina don't recognise Tagore as only a bearded man,“ Banerjee says.

Argentinean filmmaker Pablo Cesar, who conducted a special 'Master Class' at the 46th International Film Festival of India in Goa, revealed that he will be visiting the festival with a film inspired by Indian culture next year. Cesar, who has lived on a diet of Indian cinema, rolls with his directorial, Thinking Of Him, in February 2016. It is based on the life of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

“The film is set in 1924 when Tagore is 63 and will be shot in Shanti Niketan and Argentina next summer. The scenes showing the present will be filmed in color and the flashback portions in black-and-white,“ he told Mirror.

Cesar whose repertoire boasts of internationally acclaimed films like Banks, Hunabku, Aphrodite: The Garden of Perfumes and Unicorn: Garden Fruit, insists only Naseer will be able to do justice to the role and is flying down to Mumbai to meet the veteran actor to lock the project and prep up the 66-year-old-actor to step into Tagore's shoes. “I am a Naseeruddin Shah fan and have watched Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Junoon and Sparsh many times. He inspires me,“ the filmmaker admits.

Cesar who always films in 35mm since he loves the aesthetic appeal of films shot in the smaller format as compared to Bollywood's 70 mm, is basing the plot of his next on Victoria Ocampo. The Argentinian author was an ardent admirer of Tagore who visited Shantiniketan when she was 34 and fell in love with his teaching style and poetry. The film draws extensively from her book of essays, Tagore On The Banks Of The River Plata and another book, Tagore En Las Barrancas de San Isidro' (Tagore On The Ravines Of San Isidro). Next, Cesar will curate an Indian film festival in Argentina in collaboration with the country's National Film Instutute to acquaint the South American audience with Bollywood's new crop of filmakers and Indian culture. “It will showcase the choicest Indian films in different languages. Filmmakers like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal are held in high regard in my home country,“ the filmaker reveals with his brightest smile.