Indian Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj Draws Inspiration from Russian Masters

As a jury member at the KinoBrav, Bollywood director Vishal Bhardwaj, known for his masterful adaptations of complex narratives of Shakespeare – Omkara, Haider – and other literary works for Indian cinema, emphasised the increasing cultural and cinematic exchange between Russia and India in an interview with Sputnik India.

Film festivals foster awareness about the political and social issues in various countries, shedding light on how these factors affect everyday life and the overall pulse of those societies, he said, marking film festivals a valuable course in understanding the world.

“I think culturally and emotionally, we have so many things in common between us (Russia and India). So, we should do co-production, like it happened in the past with Mr. Shashi Kapoor's company. They produced films over here with their co-production” Bhardwaj told Sputnik India.,

Russia is a significant market for Indian films and there are immense opportunities for filmmakers, he noted.

Captivated by the impressive VFX work in Russian cinema, Bhardwaj revealed plans to collaborate with talented Russian VFX artists for his upcoming film production.

“Russian cinema is quite advanced. And we can collaborate on various fronts, not just financially, but technically also.” Bhardwaj said. “We are actually exploring to collaborate on VFX, because the VFX of Russian films are really good.”

This is not Bhardwaj’s first collaboration with Russian artists. He has shot in Russia some of his popular Bollywood movie that have won seven awards, including Filmfare and International Indian Film Academy Awards. His love for Russian music also inspired him to create the award-winning dance track “Darling,” which draws from the Russian folk song “Kalinka.”

“I shot part of 7 Khoon Maaf in Russia to depict a Russian diplomat [played by Alexander Dyachenko] in love with Priyanka Chopra's character. We filmed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, both of which are such beautiful cities. Whenever the opportunity arises, I would love to shoot another film in Russia”, Bhardwaj reckoned.

Russian literature, according to the director, has greatly inspired him, particularly the works of eminent writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, as well as many stories by Anton Chekhov.

He expressed a keen interest in giving an Indian twist to the plays and short stories of Chekhov.

“There is a beautiful story called ‘The Lady with the Dog’. I've been very keen on adapting this short story into a film for a long time and might do so very soon”, Bhardwaj said.

At the KinoBravo Film Festival in Sochi, India was represented with the thriller Manjummel Boys by Chidambaram.

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