Putin plans big Indian soft power promotion; to discuss Indian movies in Russia with Modi

NEW DELHI: The India-Russia soft power quotient will get a boost with Russian President Vladimir Putin planning to discuss promotion of Indian cinema with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting Tuesday on the eve of the BRICS Summit here.

Putin recently said Indian cinema is more popular in Russia than entertainment from any other BRICS country. Russia has a dedicated TV channel that plays Bollywood movies "day and night", he said.

This was the first time Putin has brought up the issue of the soft power quotient in the India-Russia partnership. Bollywood movies have been extremely popular in the erstwhile Soviet Union. Raj Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Hema Malini are cult figures across the ex-Soviet republics. Yet Russia has not been chosen by the Indian film industry as a location for film shootings.


Besides movies, there are concerted efforts to improve people-to-people ties including providing Indian human resources to Russia. Moscow is seeking to host a larger Indian workforce for various sectors including construction and textile industry besides wider pharmaceutical and automotive industry collaboration, ET has learnt.

At the July annual summit in Moscow, the two sides agreed to continue discussions on the Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement. Russia is seeking Indian manpower for various economic and infrastructure projects given the reputation of Indian workforce across the world including West Asia.