During a panel discussion, in answer to the question whether or not one could make a collaborative film among the BRICS nations, Galina proposed a story idea on ‘Mahatma’ Haffkine - the doctor who invented the vaccine for cholera and the plague that helped a lot of Indians. He gained the respect of many and was given the title of ‘Mahatma’. Anton Chekov called him the ‘most unknown person in the world’ as he never gained worldwide popularity.
What inspired you to be a film director?
Galina: Look around and you’ll find many scenes suitable for filming. It is interesting to tell stories to people. My love and urge to be a storyteller, to some extent, drove me towards films. Some influences have been derived from theatre also, as I was basically a theatregoer, not a cinema goer.
How did you bring in Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi in your movie?
If you ask anybody in the streets of Moscow about Leo Tolstoy they’ll all say that Tolstoy was a great Russian writer, and if you ask them who Gandhi was, they’d say that he was a great Indian ‘writer’. But if you had asked this question 20 years ago, everybody would say he was a great Indian philosopher. Time shows the change in generation and their knowledge. The new generation is not much aware of Gandhi. But there is a monument, and a street named after him in Moscow which shows that Gandhi as an Indian philosopher and political person is very famous in our country.
The last year of Tolstoy’s life brought about some exchange of mails between him and Mahatma Gandhi where they discussed the ideas of non-violence. The movie is based on these mails. These mails are now preserved in Tolstoy Estate, in Yasnaya Polyana.
An Indian Ambassador in Russia often used to visit that place. Once, we met at Yasnaya Polyana and he reminded me of the interesting story of the mails shared between the two great men. There is abundant literary material available on this topic. Many scientists and historians have been interested in this theme as well. He asked me if I was going to make a film on this topic, and I said ‘yes’ as that was a very interesting subject to express through cinema and so I made Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi: a Double Portrait in the Interior of the Age. The Indian Embassy and Russian museums have helped us. The museums provided us with the archive footages which had never been seen by anybody before.
Please tell us about the making of the film.
Tolstoy had actually helped me. He had described some very unusual stories and events in the mails to Mahatma Gandhi. The film is based on the documentary material but according to the laws of the filming it would be a fiction film. The dramatism and conflict in the film have been achieved though only one voice running throughout the film rather actors enacting, yet the dramatism is very strong.
This is the secret of my film making. I am an awarded director in Russia as I know how to grab the audience’s attention (laughs). I have tried to portray the thoughts of these great minds.
Among all the movies you have made till date, which is your favourite?
Cinema and theatre are my fields of work. But to answer your question, all I could say is that my ‘last film’ is my favourite since it is still fresh in the memory.
During a discussion revolving a film on Zimbabwe, I got reminded of the conflicts in both, Zimbabwe and Russia. In 1917, Russia, due to the post world war situation, saw a divide between the rich and the poor and in Zimbabwe, it was the white and black people against each other. Today it is Russian and Ukrainians against each other. Therefore, Leo and Gandhi are the thinkers who gave some answers to questions like how one could survive in this cruel world.
Did you get inspiration of filmmaking from your mother?
Anna: We have worked together in several films, I have been helping her with many films in the studio until I made my first film, which was also based on archive material and is called The Hall.
It is based on a building in Moscow which had witnessed many crucial events in the country’s history. The whole story is told from the point of view of the building.