We intend to be India’s bridge with Europe: Lithuania’s culture minister, Sarunas Birutis

He loves India and has been there over six times. Ask him what he misses most and his answer is quick “The spirit of India – the way even the poor smile at you all the time”. Soft spoken but aggressive on building a strong cultural connection with India, Lithuania’s culture minister Sarunas Birutis spoke to TOI’s Kounteya Sinha in an exclusive interview. Pointing out how Lithuania has the highest number of Indian dance schools in all the Baltic nations – five, the minister says Ayurveda is the latest rage with over seven books recently translated to Lithuanian – a language that has historic connections with Sanskrit.And what’s best – a tax cut for Bollywood films if it wants to shoot there.
You have personally pushed through a new policy that favors film-makers shooting in Lithuania. How can Bollywood specifically benefit from shooting here?
Lithuania has locations to choose from that will impress the most discerning of filmmakers. Not just the old but even the urban landscape is magical. Robin Hood and his merry band had a great time galloping through Lithuania‘ s forests, the soldiers of World War II landed dramatically on our beaches, Holocaust heroes have waded through our rivers.
Local crew members are multi-talented and highly skilled with the experience of many foreign productions under their belts, more than 100 companies, working in production, post-production, stunts, rentals and services.
Film offices and the Lithuanian Film Centre is also ready to facilitate all the necessary permits and connect you with the skilled people.
The new Lithuanian Tax Incentives have come into effect. From now on Lithuania offers all that Bollywood needs: not only marvellous locations, qualified staff, brand new soundstage but also up to 20% tax incentive of Lithuanian production budget.
How important is economic relations with India and why? You were the founder of the India Baltic Business Chamber. What are the main areas of commerce that Lithuania wants to engage with India in?
India is a growing and powerful market and it is really important for us to have good coorpartion with it. Both its middle class and the strong scientific community is its boon. India’s future is great and we want to part of it. Infact we intend to be India’s bridge with Europe.
What are you doing to promote Lithuanian culture in India?
Our goal is to encourage Lithuanian cultural institutions to present Lithuanian culture in India as well as to present Indian culture in Lithuania. One of the most memorable events of the latter was the exhibition of Indian young contemporary art in 2012 at the Lithuanian Contemporary Art Centre, which introduced the India of today.
In terms of promotion, our embassy in Delhi has been promoting Lithuanian film, literature in the context of other European countries. Our filmmakers have been presenting their works in Indian film festivals.
There is tremendous interest in India for Lithuanian contemporary textiles. There is also interest in Lithuanian theatre, which is very valued in Europe and beyond.
India is a great spiritual inspiration for many Lithuanian artists and writers. Since the 19th century, when the similarity between Lithuanian and Sanskrit was discovered, Lithuanians have taken a particular pride in their mother tongue as the oldest living Indo-European language. We still proudly quote French linguist Antoine Meillet, who said, that anyone who wanted to hear old Indo-European should go and listen to a Lithuanian farmer. And we still think sometimes that the older the language the better it is – it comes still from the 19th century.
Coincidences between these two languages are truly amazing, for example:
SON: Sanskrit sunus - Lithuanian sunus
SHEEP: Sanskrit avis - Lithuanian avis
SOLE: Sanskrit padas - Lithuanian padas
MAN: Sanskrit viras - Lithuanian vyras
SMOKE: Sanskrit dhumas - Lithuanian dumas
These Lithuanian words have not changed their forms for the last five thousand years. And these relationships between Sanskrit and Lithuanian goes even deeper.
Are there any plans to visit India or sign any bilateral documents in the near future?
Yes, we have an intergovernmental agreement in the area of culture and education, which is a good legal basis for our cooperation. Currently there is in preparation cooperation programme for three years between the Ministries of Culture, which should include concrete proposals for cooperation in the fields such as arts, libraries, intangible cultural heritage, academic art programmes, creative industries, film. The Vilnius University is the only one in the Baltic countries to have a department of Indology. We are trying to make its library popular focusing more on Sanskrit.
Any plans to get some big names from culture in India to come to Lithuania or engage in some joint projects?
We are interested in contemporary India – contemporary art, music, theatre, we would be interested to see what India sees and feels today, what kind of challenges it encounters and what is on the minds of young people. It is not so much about the promotion of culture as much as about wider collaboration between our artists and art institutions, using possibilities of artists’ residencies, artistic exchanges, and artistic collaboration. Sometimes we focus too much on our past.