KOLKATA: Rabindranath Tagore's sudden international fame after winning the Nobel Prize for his collection of poems Gitanjali and the spiritual influence he subsequently left on the European mindset would soon be captured into a Indo-British film.

"I am in the process of developing a script on a section of Tagore's life revolving on how his life changed dramatically around the year 1913 when he won the Nobel," UK-based director-producer Sangeeta Datta said on Sunday during a visit to the city.

Coinciding with the biopic would be the bard's 150th birth anniversary, which falls this year on May 7. Also 2013 would mark the completion of 100 years of his winning the Nobel Prize for literature.

"Yes, it can be regarded as a tribute to him due to the apt timing," said Datta, whose first feature film Life Goes On starring Sharmila Tagore and Soha Ali Khan released last Friday.

The yet-to-titled production would harp on the influence Tagore had on an international audience, Europe in particular, and how Tagore became the voice of India's spiritual heritage.

"In his early years, Tagore was little known outside his native Bengal. But when he began translating his works into English, he got instant fame. His poems made him an almost overnight sensation in London literary circles. His lecture tours and tours of friendship across continents took him further closer to the West."

During the period 1910s Europe was looking for a spiritual support with the culmination of European militarism followed by the First World War, Datta pointed out adding that it was during this time that the Europeans found solace through Gitanjali.

The director, who also runs Stormglass Productions in London, is currently scouting for financiers to fund her ambitious project.

"As for the actor's part, I am looking for faces. It will probably have two actors playing Tagore - the one who won the Nobel as a 52-year-old and another one in his twenties," said Datta.

On how did the idea of choosing Tagore stuck her, she said that literature has strongly influenced her life and her work reflects that.

Even her debut film Life Goes On, which is a contemporary adaption of Shakespeare's period drama King Lear, had songs from Tagore's repertoire.


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