Bollywood Film Festival Russia 2020

The main goal of the festival is to make the word "Bollywood" be associated by the Russian audience not as well-dressed songs and dances, but as high-quality movies. Today, Indian films are still colorful, but very MODERN, according to the organizers of the Bollywood Film Festival. This year's program includes comedy, drama, and even horror. There will certainly be no dancing and bright costumes.

Karen Mirzoyan, the President of the MacCoffee BOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL RUSSIA: "Darkness is a thriller, which was shot using a very interesting technology, and – if I'm not mistaken, negotiations are already underway with a Hollywood Studio that wants to make a remake of it. – So was I right to erase the dot? – Absolutely correct. Today we will be without dots. If we are talking not about festival release, but about mass cinema: how often do Indian films appear on Russian screens? For the last two years, we have one or two films a quarter. And there was a time when even one movie a month appeared on the screens. – And did you have good box sales revenue?" – Well, we started with two spectators. And now we have full sold out halls".

The Festival is held not only in Moscow. Indian films are also brought to Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Samara and Tyumen. The organizers admit that the word "Bollywood" in the name of the festival is just an advertising trick. In fact, the films shown to the Russian audience are shot not only in Mumbai.

Olga Bubnova, a reporter: "Bollywood is not the only Indian film studio. More than 2,000 films are produced in India every year. And only about 30 or 40 percent of them are from Bollywood. In India, movies are shot in different regions and in different languages. (Indians, by the way, have 22 official languages). Well. The actors of the opening film speak Marathi, the language of the Maharashtra region. Let's go to the movie!"

Sammy Kotwani, President of Sita Indian National Cultural Center: "All of you have heard about Bollywood, the famous film studio in Mumbai. I am happy that thanks to this festival, Russian audience moves away the stereotypical idea of Bollywood and discovers all the aspects of Indian cinema."

The film "Darkness" opens the festival. The Director of the Indian horror film is Dattu Sandeep.

Reporter: "You have said you love music and melodramas. Why did you decide to shoot a horror film?"

Dattu Sandeep, Director of the film "Darkness": “A very interesting question. I have been working in this industry for more than 10 years. Two feature films were shot based on my scripts. And they were very popular in India. But pretty soon I got bored of working in standard genres like comedies and melodramas. I started thinking, "What OTHER genres can I try?" And I decided to make my OWN film, where I would be both a director and a film writer. And I realized it would be a horror film. No one has ever shot a horror movie before in India."

Reporter: "You were inspired by Andrey Tarkovsky. Is that true?"

"Tarkovsky is a legend! He is one of the first among the most famous and most respected directors in the world. I grew up watching his movies, and when I was a student, I followed his example. However, at that time I could not understand his methods of shooting, his symbolism... And years later, when I had read enough literature, I finally began to understand the essence of his films."

Our culture has had a great influence on Indian cinema and theater. The actors of the film "Darkness" admit that Russian classics are given special attention in theater academies in India.

Sanket Bashvashrao, an actor: "I learned a lot from Stanislavsky. I also got my knowledge of acting from the writings of Meyerhold. I have also read almost all plays by Anton Chekhov, and I like them very much. In general, we follow the Stanislavsky system in India."

Even the Indian horror was filmed according to the precepts of Konstantin Sergeyevich.

Rajkumar Jarange, an actor: "Before shooting, it took 3 or 4 months to train actors according to the Stanislavsky system. And even after we sank into a state of our characters, we continued – together with the Director - to work out their characters. Only afterwards, the shooting began. It lasted a month and a half. Post-production took much longer – about seven months. It turns out that in general the work on the film lasted 1 year"

The featured actors admit that despite the genre, "Darkness" is still a film about love and friendship.

Shreyas Behere, an actor: "In this film I act as guy by the name of Ganesh. He, like all of us, is just trying to survive: he has a higher education, goes for interviews and tries to get a job. But these attempts are unsuccessful. His friend is interested in shooting paranormal phenomena and draws my hero into it. And what happens next with the guys – you will see in the film."

If you do not have time to watch the film at the festival - do not despair! The Indian horror film will soon be screened in Russia.

Olga Bubnova, Kirill Palmovsky, TV BRICS.