How the Swan Princess became a movie star in India and an actress restricted to travel abroad: Ksenia Ryabinkina

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

We know Ksenia Ryabinkina as a soloist of the Bolshoi Ballet and Princess Swan from "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". There are only 10 roles in her filmography, but this was enough for the artist to be recognized not only in the USSR, but also abroad. The Soviet actress, who only appeared on screens in her homeland from time to time, became a real movie star in India. True, because of this, they stopped releasing her abroad. And years later, her name began to flash again in the press - recently, she has been referred to as the mother of the famous actor Yevgeny Stychkin.

Ksenia Ryabinkina never thought about her acting career - from the very childhood she dreamed of becoming a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, like her mother, Alexandra Tsabel. At the age of 19, she graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School at the Bolshoi Theater and for the next 20 years performed on its stage. At first, she danced only in the corps de ballet. The first success in this field was achieved by her older sister, ballet dancer Elena Ryabinkina. But Ksenia managed to prove her creative viability and become a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater.

All-Union popularity was brought to her by the role of the Swan Princess in "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". This role became her film debut. At that time, she was still dancing in the corps de ballet, this was her first year in the theater, she was only 19 years old, and the offer to act in films came as a complete surprise to her. Once in the Central House of Artists, the daughter of director Alexander Ptushko, who worked as his second director, approached her and invited her to audition for a movie fairy tale. Ryabinkina came to Mosfilm without expecting that she, an unprofessional actress with no filming experience, would be immediately entrusted with such a role. She really looked like a fairytale princess, and so impressed the crew that she was immediately approved. The operator told her: "".

Ksenia Ryabinkina did not think that she did something outstanding in this film, she said: "". However, after the release of the fairy tale on the screens, incredible popularity fell upon it. Thousands of spectators were in love with the beautiful Swan Princess. The actress was surprised: how much work it takes to become a prima on the ballet stage, and how little it takes to become a movie star - it is enough just to “get into character”, to be as similar to your heroine as possible!

Even after this success, she did not think to continue her acting career and after filming returned to the Bolshoi Theater. Imagine her surprise when, 4 years later, she again received an offer to act in films - but this time not in her homeland, but in India! Ryabinkina got the role of the Russian circus artist Marina in the film "My name is Clown". The most famous Indian actor in the USSR, Raj Kapoor, invited her to shoot in Bollywood after he saw her on stage. Ryabinkina recalled the trip to India as a fairy tale in reality. This was her first independent trip abroad. There she was greeted like a real movie star and settled in a huge hotel room with flowers and fruits. She could not say a word in Hindi, and she simply had to memorize the text of her role.

The Soviet ballerina revolutionized Indian cinema - she forever went down in Bollywood history as the first actress to kiss her partner in the frame. And that was Raj Kapoor himself! Millions of women envied her, and she remained completely indifferent to this episode - the actor was 21 years older than her, besides, she was then in love with another man. When she returned to the USSR, she found out that this man had managed to marry another in several months of her absence.

In India, the film "My Name is Clown" was very popular, her photographs were everywhere, the image of Ksenia Ryabinkina can still be seen there on souvenirs. But in the USSR, she not only did not have success - this film was almost never shown here, but troubles happened: during the filming she lost her shape, at the Bolshoi Theater they were unhappy with her absence, envied her success. In addition, after a long foreign business trip, the actress became restricted to travel abroad for several years.

Later she said: "".

Her further film career can hardly be called brilliant - Ryabinkina appeared on the screens only from time to time, and even the main roles did not bring her the same popularity as her Swan Princess. She was not worried about this - ballet always remained in the first place for her. Only after she left the Bolshoi Theater to retire did she start acting more. But in India she was not forgotten: in 2009, the actress starred in another Bollywood film "Chintu Gee", where she played her heroine from the first film years later. To this day, Ksenia Ryabinkina remains the only Russian actress who has twice performed prominent roles in Bollywood films. And in 2018, British actor and director Rafe Fiennes invited her to shoot a film about Rudolf Nureyev.

Ksenia Ryabinkina has always been a bright beauty and enjoyed success with the opposite sex. In her youth, she was in love with Joseph Kobzon, he even proposed to her, but the ballerina refused. Later, Ksenia could not explain what was then guided by, - she says that, obviously, she was just waiting for another person. Later, Andrei Mironov himself courted her, but Ryabinkina did not reciprocate. She never liked artists. Her husband became a simultaneous interpreter Aleksey Stychkin, who worked at the State Film Agency and the UN in Switzerland. An erudite man with a great sense of humor has always enjoyed great success with women, but this did not frighten Ksenia - she was fascinated by him at first sight. But he began to look after her only a year after their first meeting. It is interesting that he did it then because he argued with a friend: by that time Ryabinkina was already a famous artist, they saw her name on the poster and made a bet that Stychkin would conquer her. Of course, he never thought that this bet would lead to a marriage lasting 26 years and the birth of a child.

Many ballerinas do not dare to have children, fearing that after that they will not be able to return to shape and ruin their careers. For Ksenia Ryabinkina, everything turned out the other way around - she received the long-awaited leading roles after she became a mother. At first, the father almost did not take part in the upbringing of his son - he became really interesting to him only at the age when he could already react to his jokes. Evgeny Stychkin inherited a sense of humor from his father, artistic abilities from his mother. Together, this allowed him to become one of the most successful and sought-after actors in modern cinema, and his talent was revealed to the fullest in the comedic role. Today Ksenia Ryabinkina is proud of the fact that she is called nothing more than "Evgeny Stychkin's mother."

When Alexei Stychkin was 56 years old, he passed away. The cause was a heart attack. For Ksenia Ryabinkina, this was a big blow - it seemed to her that she had lost herself. Today, the 75-year-old artist is the assistant artistic director of the ballet theater of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses and teaches ballet at a private school. Her pupils and grandchildren became a consolation for her - their son had already given five of them to the actress: 2 marriages and 5 children of Evgeny Stychkin.