EXCLUSIVE: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan is attached to play the lead in French-Afghan filmmaker Atiq Rahimi’s screen adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Kabuliwala.

Co-written by Atiq Rahimi and Jean-Claude Carriere, the project transplants Tagore’s story to modern-day Kolkata. The protagonist is a 55-year old Afghan refugee in India and the story follows his friendship with a five-year old Bengali girl.

The film, which has been selected for this year’s Co-production Market at Film Bazaar, will be shot in Kolkata and Jaisalmer for 60 days starting June 2013. Sunil Doshi’s Mumbai-based Handmade Films is producing.

Rahimi’s last feature, The Patience Stone, screened at the Toronto, Abu Dhabi and Busan film festivals this year.

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