In the on-going 46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa 2015) a renowned Russian film actor cum filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. He has earned quite a name and fame for himself both behind the scenes as a filmmaker and as an actor in front of the camera. His films are widely acclaimed by an international audience and have also received varied international awards. Moreover at present Mikhalkov is the president of his own film production company, Three T Productions. Besides he is also the head of the Russian Filmmakers Union, chairman of the Russian Cultural Foundation and also a member of the Russian Presidential Council of Culture.
How about recalling a little bit of your film history for your Indian fans?
I was born in Moscow in the year 1945. Since a very early age I realised that cinema is a passion for me and since then I strived to be a filmmaker cum actor and I must say that my efforts bore fruits. To start off with I studied acting in Children’s film studio Of the Moscow Art Theatre and later at the Shchukin School of the Vakhtangov Theatre. While still a student, I appeared in Georgi Daneliya’s film I Step Through Moscow (1964) and my brother Andrei Konchalovsky’s film Home Of The Gentry (1969). And very soon I became a star of the Soviet stage and cinema.
So how did you make a transition from an actor to a director?
While continuing to pursue my acting career, I entered VGIK, the state film school in Moscow, where I studied direction under filmmaker Mikhail Romm, who was in fact a teacher to my brother and Andrei Tarkovsky. I directed my 1st short film in 1968, I’m Coming Home, and one for my graduation, A Quiet Day At The End Of The War in 1970. Actually speaking I had appeared in more than 20 films as an actor, including my brother’s Uncle Vanya (1972), before I co – wrote, directed and starred in my 1st feature, At Home Among Strangers in 1974, an Ostern set just after the 1920s civil war in Russia. Then as luck would have it I established an international reputation with my 2nd feature film, A Slave Of Love (1976). Set in 1917, it followed the efforts of a film crew to make a silent melodramatic movie. Then in the year 1994 one of my film named Burnt By The Sun won an Oscar for “Best Foreign Language Film”. Then in 2013 another one of my film named 12 was nominated for the same award.
What are your feelings on being bestowed with a lifetime achievement award in the International Film Festival Of Goa 2015?
It is a great honour coming from the Indian Government. I feel more elated on receiving this prestigious award from an Indian International Film Festival (IFFI Goa 2015). I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. I feel proud on being included in the list of distinguished personalities who have received the award previously. You see Indian cinema has had a great impact on my work. Love and tenderness shown in the films of the Late Raj Kapoor had influenced me since my childhood. (Hums the famous song ‘Awara’, from the Late Raj Kapoor’s film) Oh! How do I explain my love for Indian films? Suffice it to say that Indian cinema is an entirely different planet for me! A film becomes an international film when it is truly national & cultural oriented.
What do you feel on the constant rise of violence and aggression in Global films?
It’s very pathetic. I feel that the world has died of its own greed, people value money more than each other’s emotions, this leads to violence and aggression. I follow a strict set and format of film making as I feel movies should have the freedom to breath.
