New Delhi: Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate literary titan, multi-faceted creative powerhouse, humanist and reformer of global repute, generated a treasure trove of timeless poetry and went onto form the spine of many wonderful cinematic creations. Nearly 80 years after he left us, he continues to be living in our midst and was today celebrated at IFFI2017.
The panel discussion moderated by Vani Tripathi with panelists Moon Moon Sen, Shoma Chatterji and noted Argentinian filmmaker, Pablo Cesar focused on the many ways in which the “Bard of Bengal” influenced Indian cinema in various languages.
Vani Tripathi points out, “It’s interesting that we’re having a panel session on Tagore at a film festival, one of the biggest film festivals in this part of the world, the International Film Festival of India. Moon Moon Di was saying to me before when we were sitting in the lounge that what better place to have a festival than in Goa. The most interesting part is that the closing film of the festival is this beautiful film Thinking of Him, made on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore .We have the director Pablo Cesar who flew all the way from Argentina to join us”.
Director Pablo Cesar said, “I started off the project in 2008 when the ambassador of India was in Argentina that time. He said that I need to think about the idea of making a film on the relationship between Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Victoria Ocampo. And that time I knew very little about that. I was not specialized in it. Then I started to study him. It’s not possible to study Tagore completely because there is so much to him and his life”.
Moon Moon Sen adds, “My mother Suchitra Sen was the first Indian actress to win an international award. My introduction to Tagore was through her. I did my Master’s Degree under some wonderful professors like Nobinita Deb Sen, where I studied Tagore in English. My daughters grew up with my mother and they used to listen to poetries and prayers inspired by the works of Tagore.”
The 48th Edition of IFFI is being held from the 20th to 28th of November, 2017 in the beach state of Goa.
