We have a 24-hour channel for Hindi movies, says Dmitry Medvedev

“Indian cinema has been and continues to find many loyal enthusiasts in Russia where we have dedicated 24 hours channels which screen Hindi movies,”  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told an august gathering of top captains of Bollywood at a 45-minute long meeting organised by Red Chillies at the Yash Raj Studios in Andheri on Wednesday.

“Our country is one of the places where Indian culture is most admired,” he said, soon after Yash Chopra welcomed him to the state-of-the-art film enterprise set up in 2007.

“Your visit to Yash Raj is a tribute to Bollywood, which continues to inspire and entertain many Russians. And, Raj Kapoor remains one of the biggest overseas names in Russia till date,” Chopra said.

Among the other top Bollywood honchos at the meeting were Mahesh, Vikram and Mukesh Bhatt; Ramesh and Rohan Sippy, Rakesh Roshan, Manmohan Shetty, Randhir Kapoor, Amit Shah, Nitin Desai and Shah Rukh Khan. Randhir Kapoor invoked his father’s memories to a round of applause.

“Our family has always held Russia and its special friendship with India in high esteem,” he said, adding, “The love that people in Russia have shown for Raj Kapoor saab and his work has always filled us with pride.” Amit Shah asked Medvedev, “While it is a matter of pride that Indian films are shown on a 24x7 channel in Russia, when we can expect some revenue from the movies that are aired?” to which the president said, “We will definitely see how things can be worked out to mutual benefit.”

On Medvedev’s invitation to Indian filmmakers to Russia for shooting and opening of film institutes, Mukesh Bhatt said, “It will be of great help if the Russian government created a single window facilitation,” to which Medvedev agreed to look into.

A senior director said, “Russia’s love affair for Bollywood is over. It’s Hollywood flicks that people line up to watch in cinemas across Moscow today, with Bollywood films available on television or DVDs.”