Cooperation With Indian Cinema Needs to Be Rebuilt: Lemesheva

Maria Lemesheva said she came up with the idea of the ‘Days of Russian Cinema in India’, after she was asked to hold a Russian Cinema Week in an Asian country.

“I immediately thought of India, which has been undeservedly forgotten in the last quarter of a century, a country with which, in terms of the cinema, there was practically no cooperation. While Russian audiences are still watching Indian movies (we have a channel that shows only Indian films), people in modern India have practically no knowledge about our cinema productions. I really wanted to change this situation, to kick-start a rival,” said Lemesheva, Adviser to the Russian Union of Cinematographers.

“The last quarter of a century has seen no Russian films shown in India. And so we now need to build everything from scratch,” noted the producer of the forum.

It is worth mentioning that bilateral cooperation between Russia and India is currently being discussed at the highest levels. The intentions to develop ties in this sphere is reflected in the joint statement made by the leaders of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, during a bilateral summit held in October of this year.

“We are not mistaken in this, because this truly is the most promising direction. India is one of the most interesting markets today. Here, in contrast to China, which also has a huge market, cinema is consumed, like “bread.” Indians, practically from birth, feel that the movies are an integral part of their lives. Even citizens with the lowest incomes, spend their money to watch movies, and it is difficult to imagine any other country that loves cinema to such an extent,” said Lemesheva.