MOSCOW, June 24 (UNI)-Gone are the days of “Awara” and “Shri 420”, Even the present-day Indian hits are not able to make it to the Russian cinemas. And the reason lies not in the interest Of the viewers but ‘the economy of cinema owners and distributors.
Some 25 million of Indian film lovers in Russia are left with no choice but to see Hollywood entertainers like “Cinc-eclipse” because the distributors, as a Moscow film weekly puts it, find it cheaper to buy American erotic thriillers.
AS compared to the residents of Siberia and far East Russia, Indian movie fans in Moscow are still at an advantage as one of the cinema halls nuns Indian films received from Uzbekistan on barter and the Cine Museum from time to time shows “faded prints” of the films left since the Festival of India in 1987, writes “Ekran I Stsena (Screen and Stage)”. The acute shortage of Indian films in Russian provinces and the closure of the “India” magazine by the Indian Embassy in Moscow has created a breeding ground for all sons of “’swindlers, cheaters and pirates”, Mr. Yun Korchagov, an official of the cine club “New India” says. In the Russian town of Kostroma, a “swindler” collected a huge amount towards subscriptions for dozens of non-existing dailies and. magazines, each of which contained the word “India” in its name, Mr Korchagov said. Another “entrepreneur” from the Black Sea resort city of Sochi offered to send for six thousand roubles (Rs90)a list of Indian film Studios to anyone in the CIS interested 10 get a role in the movies “with the minimum monthly wage equivalent to three million roubles (RS45,000)”, Mr. Rorchagov said, adding that generally teenage girls fall victim to such tricks,
Article extracted from this publication >> July 22, 1994
