International
Farley Granger no more
MUMBAI: Farley Granger, who played the likable tennis professional in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Strangers on a Train has expired of natural causes in New York. He was 85.
In 1948, Granger had won acclaim for another Hitchcock murder thriller, Rope, in which he played a young pianist who perpetrates a Leopold Loeb-type murder with a fellow school chum.
Under contract to producer Samuel Goldwyn during his relatively short Hollywood career, he played a confused or neurotic young man who always faces a series of melodramatic problems. After appearing opposite Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Anderson in 1952, he bought out his Goldwyn contract and traveled to Europe in 1954 where he starred in Luchino Visconti‘s Senso.
In 2007, Granger published a memoir, Include Me Out, in which he confessed of being a bisexual. The book documented his affairs with Shelley Winters, Ava Gardner and Patricia Neal as well as playwright Arthur Laurents and a two-night fling with Leonard Bernstein.
Since ‘60s, he lived with his longtime partner Robert Calhoun, a soap opera producer, who died three years ago.
Granger made his movie debut playing a Russian in Lewis Milestone‘s The North Star, a war propaganda moved about the Soviet Union‘s resistance to Nazi Occupation, written by Lillian Hellman. He next appeared in another World War II film, The Purple Heart, as a US flyer court-martialed by the Japanese before joining the Navy in 1944. His last film appearance was in the art world satire The Next Big Thing in 2001.
International
Russia-India cinematic spectacle Persimmon of My Love set for grand Moscow debut
Hindi cinema style musical revives Indo-Soviet cinema ties for today
MUMBAI: A new chapter in cross-border storytelling is set to unfold as Persimmon of My Love gears up for its premiere in Moscow on 1 April 2026, marking the first large-scale cinematic collaboration between Russia and India in decades.
Positioned as a modern nod to the cultural exchange that once brought Indian classics to Soviet audiences, the film blends Hindi cinema flair with Russian storytelling, aiming to rekindle a long-standing cinematic friendship.
Directed by Marius Weisberg, the musical comedy follows two brothers navigating a lively world of music, family and romance. The lead roles are played by Demis Karibidis and Mikhail Galustyan, with Karibidis also contributing as a screenwriter.
Shot entirely in India, the production leans heavily into Hindi cinema style spectacle. Filming took place across Mumbai studios and the cities of Udaipur and Jodhpur, whose architecture was used to create the fictional setting of Khurmada. A crew of over 350 worked on the project, with large-scale sequences featuring up to 1,000 extras.
The film also brings Indian creative talent into the mix. Dance sequences are choreographed by Jay Kumar, while music by Zurab Matua features songs in both Hindi and Russian, adding to its cross-cultural appeal.
Backed by TNT channel, MyWayStudio and the Russian Cinema Fund, the project reflects a broader push to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.
With its mix of colour, comedy and cross-border collaboration, Persimmon of My Love is not just a film release but a reminder that cinema, much like music, travels well across borders.
