Russian, Indian film studios plan joint projects

According to initial plans of the partners, the first project involves huge investments in the production of remakes of movies of the famous Indian actor and film director Raj Kapoor [pictured], which were extremely popular in the USSR.

The project is expected to be implemented by Reliance Media Works Ltd, one of India’s largest film and entertainment services together with Russian World Studios (RWS).

In addition, both parties are planning to accelerate efforts in the field of restoration and digitization of old Soviet movies.

Under the terms of the agreement, signed between RWS and Reliance MediaWorks, both companies will be engaged in the restoration of the old Soviet and Russian films of historical and cultural value, as well as their transfer from 35mm film to digital, including HD.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Russian analysts believe that signing of the agreements between leading Russian and Indian film studios is expected to help to restore ties between the two countries in the field of movie production. According to Gregory Gevorgyan, General Director of Sovexportfilm,  an official international sales agent for world famous MOSFILM library, during the Soviet times the number of Indian movies bought by the USSR each year reached 25-30, with the total Soviet audience for some of them more than 50-60 million viewers.

These are not the first agreements between India and Russia.

Last year Sistema Mass Media Company, the owner of RWS, signed a memorandum of understanding with Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd, India’s leading media company which operates a number of television channels on the distribution of its movies in India and other Asian states.

As part of the agreement, Zee Entertainment acquired the rights for exhibition of Indian TV series — Russia’s first television series produced in Bollywood, and the first Russian-Indian joint film project for the last 20 years.