By Gaurav Dwivedi
During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to India, the two countries discussed strategic issues and signed major agreements. Yet something felt missing — the cultural, cinematic and artistic bridges that once defined the friendship between India and Russia. Though Putin mentioned Raj Kapoor while inaugurating RT news channel but it was merely lip service.
There was a time when the India–Russia relationship lived less in government files and more in people’s hearts. That was an era when the language of friendship was not weapons and diplomacy, but Raj Kapoor’s songs, Soviet circus acrobats, the pages of Sputnik magazine and the glow of the Russian ballet.
Russia did not feel like a “foreign land” then — it was the cultural neighbour of India’s middle class.
Cinema knew no borders, and Awara Hoon echoed through the streets of Moscow. Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Rishi Kapoor — and later Amitabh Bachchan — were not merely film stars, they became emotions.
For Soviet audiences, Mithun Chakraborty’s Disco Dancer and the song Jimmy Jimmy was nothing short of a national celebration. Themes of poverty, struggle and dignity resonated deeply because they felt like their own story.
‘Ajooba’ — a farewell to cinematic partnership
In 1990, Ajooba — starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia — became one of the last big Indo–Soviet co-productions. Directed by Shashi Kapoor with co-direction by Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev, the film drew from Arabian folk tales like One Thousand and One Nights.
Producers such as FC Mehra were pillars of this India–Russia film partnership — a period when Indian imagination and Soviet spectacle met on the screen.
The Circus and the Ballet — when dreams could fly
Delhi, Kanpur, Patna, Kolkata — wherever the Soviet circus travelled, children discovered that human beings could fly.
The Soviet state even ran specialised circus training schools in Moscow amid other cities.
I watched a Russian circus myself during my Russia visit a few years ago in 2021 — and even today, children remain entranced by that blend of artistry and entertainment.
Russian ballet taught Indian audiences that the human body could speak in poetry. At the Russian Cultural Centre in Delhi, a Russian teacher named Galina still trains students privately — perhaps the last thread of that legacy.
Sputnik — a window to the world
For millions of Indian homes, Sputnik magazine was more than a publication — it was a window to ideas, science, geopolitics and global culture.
1991 — collapse, transition, and cultural silence
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 dismantled the very cultural architecture that once connected people.
India turned Westward — Hollywood, MTV and the digital world arrived.
Russia retreated into memory.
Today, the Indo-Russian relationship is defined by:
- defence partnerships
- oil and gas
- nuclear cooperation
But not by the sound of applause in cinema halls or the sparkle in children’s eyes under a circus tent.
Can that cultural friendship return?
Absolutely — if culture becomes policy again.
- Joint film production
- Revival of Russian circus and ballet tours in India
- Student exchanges in theatre, cinema and music
- A digital rebirth of a Sputnik-style cultural magazine
Because when cultures connect, relationships endure across generations.
Once, India and Russia became friends through cinema.
Today, they are partners through paperwork.
One only hopes for the return of a time when culture itself was diplomacy.
(The writer is Film Policy Expert)
