Bollywood’s ‘Dangal’ the latest to create ripple effect in China
MUMBAI: The Bollywood blockbuster Dangal, starring Aamir Khan, is the latest Indianmade hit to create a ripple effect at the box office in China. It now ranks second over there.
That’s a positive sign for Bollywood movies.
The most recent Bollywood blockbusters to have left a dent at the market in China include PK, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, Happy New Year and Baahubali.
Dangal had opened at second spot at the China box office and earned about RM 9.2 million last Friday.
It went to score a weekend total of RM48.8 million, having opened across China on some 9,000 screens.
Aamir’s earlier movie PK had also been a huge hit in China.
The publicity campaign for the movie was carefully engineered. Aamir and his team spent a week in China in April promoting the film. They travelled to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, holding events in the middle of milling audiences.
On China’s most popular cinema portals, Dangal has been uniformly applauded. On social media app WeChat, the movie enjoys the highest rating among films currently being shown in China with a 9.8 score out of 10.
There is a threat though from China’s protective cinema operator, Wanda. Wanda believes Dangal will hurt the interests of the local movies. In the smaller cities and towns of China, its cinemas have a near monopoly. Wanda says its will cut down Dangal screenings to less than 50 in the interior China. This will affect the movie’s cumulative earnings, but the big cities would have done the good deed for Aamir.
Despite Wanda’s lack of interest in the film, a number of Chinese celebrities have come out to promote the film. Actor Deng Chao posted a message on the Chinese Twitter- equivalent, Sina Weibo, telling fans to watch it, while actress Liu Yifei promoted the film along with Aamir Khan during his visit.
“I give full marks to Dangal,” wrote another fan. “I was touched that I cried so much and when I ran out of tissue, I borrowed two pieces of it from a stranger beside me, I am going to watch it again and again.”
Viewers in China have created sub-titles by translating them from available English or and sometimes Russian subtitles.
One of the first such volunteer sub-title groups run by fans was started last year by Yang Buhui, 29, who works in the gaming industry.
“Indian mythology is just fascinating. Its philosophy and worldview, which are exotic, have been a new world to me,” Yang said.
Yang said she started her sub-titling group because of her love for the show Devon Ke Dev Mahadev. “I love the drama because it’s a key to the world of Indian mythology,” she said. “Besides, the actors and actresses are not only gorgeous, but also their acting skills are good.”