Hollywood movie translator Mila Grekova from Russia says that Bollywood may replace Hollywood in Russia as the Russian film industry is turning away from the West and looking at releasing movies from Asian countries like India and South Korea.
Grekova, who has spent years translating films into Russian, shares that although Bollywood has the scope to grow in Russian cinema, the biggest challenge for the translators lies in translating Hindi movies into Russian.
“Bollywood may replace Hollywood in Russia, but it’s too late for me to learn Hindi,” Grekova told AFP news agency, referring to India’s refusal to roll out sanctions.
Like other industries, the film industry of Russia has also been severely affected by the Russia-Ukraine war as several countries have put a ban on Russian artists and employees, leaving hundreds of people jobless.
Grekova, who lost her job after the Hollywood giants slapped sanctions on Russian employees and the release of new films in Russia, said that the current situation has not made her turn against President Vladimir Putin.
“It’s the West that I hate today and not Putin,” the 56-year-old stated.
According to the European Audiovisual Observatory, Russians accounted for the highest attendee volume in European cinemas, with a record 145.7 million tickets sold last year.
As the Russian film industry plans to release blockbuster hit movies from Bollywood, South Korea and other Asian countries, this has led to a rise in demand for dubbing artists and translators.
Before Hollywood's withdrawal, the Russian company Mosfilm-Master was dubbing around 10 foreign films a month, mostly from English.
"Now we have lost two-thirds" of business, the company's director Yevgeny Belin, who has spent three decades in dubbing, told AFP.
"During the pandemic, we had films but no cinemas open. Today, we have our cinemas but no films," he said.
Mosfilm-Master is also on the hunt for translators of Korean, Mandarin, Hindi and other languages.