A dialogue of Russia and India: on the problem of contact interactions between cultures
The article aims to describe the problems of cultural interaction between Russia and India, it traces the history of the issue, from the experiments performed by Gerasim Lebedev at the end of the 18<sup>th</sup> and the beginning of the 19<sup>th</sup> centuries, travels by Russian writers and painters at the cusp between 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries to the dialogue between cultures at the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> and the beginning of the 21<sup>st</sup> centuries. The authors of the article make an attempt to consider the current state of literature and music from the perspective of comparative studies. Special attention is paid to the influence of R. Tagore, in particular his jibondebota philosophy, on Russian music and cinema. The authors analyse cultural interaction between Russia and India and point out that their mutual influence at the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century and the beginning of the 21<sup>st</sup> century can be explained by postmodern trends that are associated with the search for new forms in art. Postmodernism is viewed as a platform that determines the trends of contemporary Indian and Russian culture, their interpenetration and enrichment. In this paradigm, the authors carry out an analysis of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake and some works by contemporary pop groups and performers.