The USSR's Love Affair with Bollywood

Raj Kapoor on Stamp of India (2001)

From the 1950s right up to its collapse, people in the Soviet Union were completely infatuated with Indian cinema. India and The Soviet Union had completely different politics, languages, and cultures. But for a brief time, these two nations found they had much more in common than expected, and realized this through a love of movies.

Hear about it on From Bombay with Love from 99% Invisible.

For us this helped bring into focus a little more about why we love Bollywood movies so much. The Soviets had only social realism movies. Talk about depressing. Hollywood these days is not turning out entertainment in the way we think of it - something to enjoy. Except for superhero movies and we've got plenty of those. Bollywood's filling in what Hollywood's forgotten - how to have a good time.