Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Vladimir Norov and diplomats from the member states of the bloc attended the inaugural session of a movie series—'cinemascope'—organised by the Indian Embassy in Beijing.
'CinemaSCOpe' series, being exclusively screened for the diplomats and their families of the SCO countries, commenced on Saturday at the Indian Embassy premises with the screening of Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots.
More than two dozen Indian movies including 3 Idiots, dubbed in the Russian language, will be screened on a monthly basis till India's chairmanship of the eight-member SCO "Council of Heads of State" meeting in 2023.
The event was jointly inaugurated by Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri along with Norov. SCO diplomats and their families attended the event.
The SCO is an economic and security bloc in which India and Pakistan were admitted as full members in 2017. Its founding members included China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In his address to the gathering, Misri said a proposal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an "SCO Film Festival" is under consideration by the member states. Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy has decided to launch 'cinemaSCOpe' series for the SCO diplomats, he said.
Top Bollywood stars like Raj Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Amitabh Bachchan are household names in the SCO countries especially the Central Asian Republics, part of the former Soviet Union where the Russian language remained popular.
Norov, former foreign minister of Uzbekistan, in his address, complimented the Indian Embassy for the initiative and highlighted the popularity of the Bollywood movies in the Central Asian countries.
The Indian cinema industry is also one of the largest in the world, providing employment to thousands of people, he said, adding that its global influence remained unparalleled showcasing Indian culture and civilizational values.