46th IFFI-“Indian cinema has impacted me a lot”-doyen of Russian Film, Nikita Mikhalkov

 Nikita Mikhalkov, a known director and Academy award winner  from the Russian cinema has said that, “Indian cinema has great impact on his work. Love and tenderness shown in the films of Raj Kapoor had influenced him since his childhood.   He said that, “Indian cinema is an entirely different planet for me!” Addressing media person at 46th International Film Festival of India 2015 at Goa, Mr   Mikhalkov commented “A film becomes an international film when it is truly national and cultural oriented”.Replying a question about the violence in today world, he got emotional and said has advocated love and passion through his work. “The world has died of its own greed, people value money more than emotions, this leads to violence and aggression”. Nikita Mikhalkov is the son of the famous communist poet Sergey Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics of the Soviet national anthem and had strong connections to the Communist Party. Nikita Mikhalkov's mother, Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya, was also a poet and daughter of famous painter Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky and his wife Olga Vasilievna Surikova, and by her the great granddaughter of another great painter Vasily Surikov. And then last, but not least, Nikita Mikhalkov is the brother of Andrey Konchalovskiy, also a distinguished film director who, unlike Nikita, has worked in the USA.Not only did Mikhalkov direct the Academy Award-winning film "Burnt by the Sun" but he is also well-known as a versatile actor, having appeared in over 40 films, including the role of the Russian Tsar Alexander III in his own "The Barber of Siberia" (1998). Mikhalkov has an impressively long list of wins at the most prestigious film festivals, like Cannes, Venice, Moscow or Karlovy Vary.He thanked the Indian Film festival directorate for conferring Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015 and said he feels proud being included in the list of distinguished personalities who have received the award previously.