Sudha Rajagopalan - Leave Disco Dancer Alone: Indian Cinema and Soviet Movie-going after Stalin

Leave Disco Dancer Alone!

YODA PRESS
G 93, Connaught Circus New Delhi 110 001

Published in India by YODA PRESS
Sudha Rajagopalan 2008
The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right YODA PRESS (maker)
First Published 2008

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You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer.
ISBN 978-81-906186-0-1
Front Cover: Mithun Chakraborty, very popular among Soviet fans, at the XV MIFF (8 July, 1987) (Itar Tass).
Back Cover: Commando (Kommandos) publicity poster for theatres, 1991.

Typeset in Goshen 10/13
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Printed at Pauls Press, New Delhi 110 020
Published by Parul Nayyar and Arpita Das, YODA PRESS

G 93, Connaught Circus, New Delhi 110 001 Distributed by Foundation Books Pvt. Ltd.
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For my parents

Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xiii Preface xv
Introduction
Indian Films and Movie-going after Stalin 1 I. Indian Films in the Soviet Past
II. Import/ Facilitation
III. Cultural Mediation and Disengagement 98 IV. Public Voices

List of Illustrations

(following page 65)
1. Indian actress Durga Khote dances with Leningrad school students at the Palace of Pioneers (Leningrad, 1951) (RGAKFD 0201331).
2. Soviet opera legend Valeriia Barsova, Indian actress Durga Khote, Soviet tenor Ivan Kozlovskii, Indian actress T.A. Mathuram and film director K. Subramaniam at the Central House of Artists (Moscow, 1951) (RGAKFD 0201343).
3. Actress Durga Khote and other Indian film delegates with (left to right) actor Boris Chirkov, film-maker Vsevolod Pudovkin, actresses Liubov Orlova and Vera Maretskaia at the Central House of Cinema (Moscow, 1954) (RGAKFD 0 359884).
4. Raj Kapoor and Nargis in conversation with Soviet documentary film-maker Roman Karmen and his wife at the second Indian Film Festival in 1956 (Moscow, 28 October 1956) (RGAKFD 153558).
5. Soviet pilot and cosmonaut Iurii Gagarin with Indian film director K.A. Abbas (Moscow, 1962) (RGAKFD 0 286272).
6. At the IV Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF). (Left to right) Raj Kapoor with West German actress Gertraud Mittermayr (Michaela May), Soviet cosmonaut Pavel Popovich, Krishna Kapoor, cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov and East German actress Kristina Lazar (Moscow, 10 July 1965) (Itar-Tass).

x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

7. Raj Kapoor and his wife Krishna Kapoor at the Khimki port after a ferry ride on the Moscow canal (IV MIFF) (19 July 1965) (Itar-Tass).

8. Nargis with the presidium of the First International Childrens Film Festival in Moscow (7 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
9. (Left to right) Soviet director and actor Rolan Bykov with Nargis at Mosfilm during the V MIFF (8 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
10. Nargis with actor-husband Sunil Dutt sightseeing in Leningrad during a visit to the Soviet Union for the V MIFF (12 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
11. Raj Kapoor among Muscovites at the Rossiia theatre during the V MIFF (16 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
12. Raj Kapoor with graduates of the School for Circus and Performing Arts, during the V MIFF (17 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
13. Raj Kapoor with graduates of the School for Circus and Performing Arts, during the V MIFF (17 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
14. Soviet circus clown and acrobat Konstantin Berman (left) with Raj Kapoor during the V MIFF (18 July 1967) (Itar-Tass).
15. Indian actors Raj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi (centre) with other visitors and participants of the IX MIFF at the Mosfilm studio (21 July 1975) (Itar-Tass).
16. (Left to right) Soviet film director Sergei Bondarchuk, Raj Kapoor, Soviet actress Irina Skobtseva and Soviet film director Grigorii Aleksandrov have a chat during the 1965 IV MIFF (5 July 1965) (Itar-Tass).

(following page 97)
17. Raj Kapoor and Padmini at the VI World Youth and Student

Festival in 1957 (29 July 1957) (Itar-Tass).
18. (Left to right) Soviet writer of Kyrgyz origin Chingiz Aitmatov,
Soviet actress Leila Abashidze and Raj Kapoor in central
Moscow during the 1967 MIFF (15 July 1967) (Itar-Tass). 19. Indian actress Helen and Soviet actress Liudmila Saveleva
at Mosfilm during the VII MIFF (23 July 1971) (Itar-Tass). 20. Randhir (left) and Rishi Kapoor at the XIII MIFF (14 July
1983) (Itar-Tass).
21. Shashi Kapoor at the XV MIFF in 1987 (7 July 1987) (Itar-Tass).

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi

22. Mithun Chakraborty, very popular among Soviet fans, at the XV MIFF (14 July 1987) (Itar-Tass).
23. Popular Indian actor Shashi Kapoor signing autographs for fans at the XV MIFF (16 July 1987) (Itar-Tass).
24. Amitabh Bachchan among his fans at the entrance to the Rossiia hotel during the XVII MIFF (10 July 1991) (Itar-Tass).
25. Amitabh Bachchan, one of the most popular guests at the XVII MIFF (13 July 1991) (Itar-Tass).
26. A souvenir postcard with the Russian lyrics of the title song in Awara.
27. The Indian film delegation during the film festival in Moscow in 1954. (Left to right) Raj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Nargis, Nirupa Roy and Dev Anand (souvenir postcard).
28. Raj Kapoor greets readers, Moskovskii Komsomolets, 17 August 1968.

(following page 134)
29. Awara (The Vagabond/Brodiaga) souvenir postcard.
30. Shree 420 (Mr 420/Gospodin 420) publicity poster for theatres, 1956.
31. Nargis on the cover of Sovetskii Ekran, in 1957; it was the first time a foreign actors photograph was used for the cover illustration (Sovetskii Ekran, 16, 1957).
32. Betaab (Restless/Sila liubvi) publicity poster for theatres, 1988.
33. Pyar Karke Dekho (Try love/Liubi i ver) publicity poster for theatres, 1990.
34. Pyar ke Naam Qurban (Sacrifice for Love/Zhertva vo imia Liubvi) publicity poster for theatres, 1991.
35. Chandni (-/Chandni), publicity poster for theatres, 1991.
36. Indian films continue to be popular. This is the cover of a current Russian film magazine, Prem (Hindi for love), dedicated to Indian popular cinema.

(following page 170)
37. Announcement of the release of Mirza Ghalib (Sovetskii Ekran, 8, 1957).
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

38. A news item telling readers that India had surpassed America in film production that year, titled The Routing of Bond & Co. (Sovetskaia Kultura, 2 November 1971).

39. Article about Indian stars Dharmendra and Hema Malini at readers requests (Sovetskii Ekran, 18, 1981: 1517).
40. Write-up on Nargis upon her death, at fans requests (Sovetskii Ekran, 10, 1982:18).
41. Article on Indian film star Zeenat Aman published at readers requests (Sovetskii Ekran, 16, 1985: 22).
42. Mithun Chakraborty greets readers of Sovetskii Ekran who voted him best foreign star of the year in the magazines country-wide survey, 1986.
43. Article on Indian film star Sanjeev Kumar at readers requests (Sovetskii Ekran, 7, 1986: 2021).
44. Amitabh Bachchan on the cover of Sovetskii Ekran in 1989. The text says Dark Prince in a reference to the Indo-Soviet film (Ajooba) he acted in that year (Sovetskii Ekran, 4, 1989).
45. Awara, souvenir postcard.
46. Nargis during a televised interview in Moscow (Sovetskii Ekran, 16, 1957).