Russian president talks of joint venture in films

MUMBAI: As part of his respect to the cultural period known as “Khruschev‘s Thaw” that began in Russia following Stalin‘s death in 1953 that signaled the entry of Hindi films into the country, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Yash Raj Studios.

Though Medvedev made a whistle stop visit to the studio, he made sure that he got a feel of one of India’s biggest exports to his country, Bollywood. After taking a round of the facility, the Russian president visited the set of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Ra One where he met Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor who greeted him with a brief dance performance.
 
This was followed by a discussion between the Russian dignitaries and filmmakers that included Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Nitin Desai, Rakesh Roshan, Mukesh Bhatt and Randhir Kapoor among others. The topic of discussion was setting up joint ventures in making films.
Reminiscing, Medvedev recalled that he had enjoyed watching films of Raj Kapoor, who was hugely popular in Russia. He also revealed that a local television channel in his country was wholly dedicated to Hindi films.