Aamir-starrer Dangal pockets ₹20cr on opening day in China
Not in recent history has anything Indian created a stir in China as Dangal seems to have in less than two days of its release in the country. Not even the 14th Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
The Aamir Khan-starrer made about ₹20 crore on its first day of release on May 5 from some 7,000 screens — a collection nearly five times that of the last popular Indian movie, PK.
It helped that Aamir’s earlier movies have done well in China and he was here last month on a high-profile promotional tour.
But Dangal seems to have found that rare connect with Chinese audience, who usually gorge on Hollywood blockbusters, fantasy or martial art movies and sleek Hong Kong police stories.
Besides reports of Chinese audiences spontaneously giving standing ovations at the end of screenings, no Indian movie has seen ratings of 9.8 on the ticketpurchasing app, Maoyan.
There were more than 68,000 comments on the movie on Weibo, China’s Twitter on Saturday afternoon; Dangal was among Weibo’s “hot topics”.
On WeChat, a popular mobile phone messaging service, users were sharing their experiences – and asking their friends to go and watch it.
The movie’s central theme that girls are as good as boys seems to resonate in China, which like India is a patriarchal society. Some reactions were surprisingly emotional and revealed that the movie had touched a chord among the Chinese audience.
“It made me think of my father. His reticent love for us. I wanted to call him, say nothing, just cry, and cry like a river to release myself from my deep regrets. But who can tell me his number in the other world,” a senior academic with a top Chinese think-tank said.
“It is like the story of a Chinese village girl becoming an Olympic champion,” Tan Zheng, editor of Diangying Yishu (Film Art) magazine told HT, explaining the connect that Chinese audience might have found with the movie.
“Indian films are usually good at song and dance. But the director used music very naturally. And the music helps the film’s narrative successfully especially in the parts of the last match,” Tan said.
Dangal is likely to break PK’s record of the first Indian movie to make ₹100 crore in China.
As many as 10 of the 20 ministers in three-year-old Naveen Patnaik cabinet resigned on Saturday evening paving way for a reshuffle on Sunday in which 11 new ministers are expected to be inducted.
Their resignations came a day after Niranjan Pujari resigned as Odisha assembly speaker.
The ministers who resigned include Sanjay Dasburma, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Pushpendra Singhdeo, Pranab Prakash Das, Sudam Marndi, Pradeep Panigrahi and Debi Prasad Mishra. Another minister, Lal Behari Himirika, is also said to have resigned.
The ministers who resigned on Saturday were appointed as party observers for different districts on Friday night, a release issued by the BJD said.
Sanjay Dasburma was made a general secretary (youth affairs)and put in charge of two tribal dominated districts like Nabarangpur and Rayagada.
Similarly, Arun Sahoo was made a general secretary (students affairs) and was made the observer of tribal dominated Mayurbhanj district.
Patnaik’s close confidant Pranab Prakash Das was also made a general secretary and put in charge of tribal dominated Malkangiri and Koraput districts.
Pradeep Panigrahi, a general secretary, has been put in charge of Gajapati district.
Debi Prasad Mishra was elevated to the post of vice president from the rank of a general secretary. He was also appointed as the observer for Sambalpur district, considered as a strong hold of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I am grateful to those ministers who resigned voluntarily to work for the party,” Patnaik said.
THE MINISTERS WHO RESIGNED ON SATURDAY WERE APPOINTED AS PARTY OBSERVERS FOR DIFFERENT DISTRICTS ON FRIDAY NIGHT,
THE PARTY SAID