Cultural association: Russia and India will make a joint film “Pearls”

At the international festival of cinematic debuts “Spirit of Fire” a memorandum was signed on the production of a Russian-Indian film called “Pearls”. The director will be Tina Barkalaya. Previously, she had a hand in creating the musical “The Three Musketeers” (2004) and the comedy drama “The Tales of Hoffmann,” which is released in wide release on March 28.

The domestic film company Pan-Atlantic Studio and the Indian Kartina Entertainment will work on the creation of the film. The producer of the film will be Ekaterina Filippova (“The Frenchman”, “The Man Who Surprised Everyone”). According to her, the Russian Ministry of Culture supported the production of the film and provided a grant. She noted that filming will begin in November or December 2024.

“We need snow here and lack of rain in India, it seems to me that these two seasons magically coincide,” TASS quotes the producer as saying.

The plot is based on the play “Nerves” by Yulia Lukshina. The story in the film will unfold in Russia (Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk) and India. According to Filippova, this is a film about children from disadvantaged families.

“This is a family saga, modern, tied to the very current topic of child care, adoption, adoption. The story is unique in that there is no standardized approach to the topic in terms of a difficult social vector,” she said.

The producer also noted that this is a story about how a good orphanage is sometimes better than a toxic family or bad parents. Filippova clarified that the film will be about a girl who had to endure many troubles and trials that made her strong.

“Then it is quite possible that this will grow into a continuation, because it will be very interesting what will happen to this girl when she turns 18,” added Filippova.

Most of the filming will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk - this is where the main character lives in the story. Her grandmother loves Indian culture and instills this passion in her granddaughter, which will be a key moment in the development of the story.

The cast of the film is still unknown. According to Filippova, filmmakers have a list of actors they want to see in the project. Indian artists will also take part in the filming of the film.

In 2017, Dmitry Medvedev approved an agreement on joint film production between Russia and India, which should expand the distribution capabilities of both countries and strengthen ties between states.

According to the document, the copyright for a particular project will belong to the country that has invested most of the financial resources in production. In case of equal costs, the film at the competitions will be considered the director’s work.

Meanwhile, in 2023, filming of a Russian-Indian film under the working title “Snow Flower” directed by Gajendra Ahire took place in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Ugra media holding took part in the production of the film, whose employees, among other things, even played minor roles. According to the Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Natalya Komarova, “Snow Flower” is the first such project developed in cooperation between the film industries of Russia and India.

Also in 2023, it became known about the plans of the TNT channel to make a film in collaboration with Indian partners. It is expected that the roles in the film about two brothers who were separated by fate will be performed by Russian comedians Demis Karibidis and Mikhail Galustyan.

In 2021, the media reported that filmmakers from both countries were filming a film with the working title “Production 70”, the main roles in which would be played by famous Bollywood artists Salman Khan (“Pathan. A Brush with Death”) and Katrina Kaif (“While I’m Alive”) "). The director of the project was Manish Sharma (“Wedding Ceremony”, “Fan”).

The film is considered the first co-production project to receive support under the federal rebate program (return of funds spent), namely a subsidy from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Russian Export Center for filming the film in the Russian Federation.

The film tells about Indian foreign intelligence officers, including those working in Russia. The filmmakers planned to stage chases on the streets of St. Petersburg with the participation of stuntmen, many of whom were Russians. More than 80% of the film crew were local specialists. 

“The cost of the Russian team’s services turned out to be higher than if we had filmed similar scenes in India, but thanks to compensation through the rebate system, we were able to hire a professional local team and shoot beautiful, vibrant footage on the streets of St. Petersburg,” project producer Sudhanshu Kumar told Rossiyskaya newspaper."

It is currently unknown at what stage of development the film is in production and when it will be released.