A scene from Bollywood's latest offering, “Baahubali: The Beginning.” (Photo : Baahubali Movie/YouTube)
Two Asian giants, one gigantic film.
Bollywood mega blockbuster hit “Baahubali: The Beginning” will now amaze Chinese viewers as E Stars Films acquired the film rights distribution from Arka Media Works.
E Stars looks forward to release the film in November, according to Variety.
Director-screenwriter S. S. Rajamouli’s $18-million historical film was released in India in July 2015.
“Baahubali” will not be the first Indian film to be screened in the country.
Rajkumar Hirani’s $13-million 2014 sci-fi comedy, “PK” ranked at number four in the top five highest grossing films in China as of June 6, reported Forbes.
Japan’s $35-million computer animated 2014 film, “Stand by Me Doraemon” held the second spot, and the rest were all Hollywood films, with the $110-million American-Australian 2015 disaster movie “San Andreas” topping the list.
Box Office Mojo, a website founded in 1999 that monitors film earnings, placed “PK” at number 70 on its annual list of worldwide movie grosses for 2014. According to the list, “PK” earned $100.4 million, with domestic gross at $10,616,104 and foreign gross at $89,754,000.
“PK” was screened in China on May 22 and grossed nearly $20 million, reported The Indian Express.
Rajkumar Hirani’s 2009 comedy, “3 Idiots” was a box-office success in the country and was given the title “San Geshagua” when it was released in Dec. 2011. The movie was also screened in Hong Kong in Sept. 2011 and in Taiwan in Dec. 2010.
For its Chinese version, Tang Wei (“Lust, Caution,” “Late Autumn”) dubbed the voice of Pia’s character played by Indian actress Kareena Kapoor.
Hindi films are popular in (in descending order) Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Egypt and Nigeria, according to TopYaps, an online news portal in India. People from Afghanistan refer to Bollywood films as “Hindustani movies.”
India’s Eros International announced during the Sino-India Film Cooperation Press Conference in China in May 15 that it secured a deal with state-owned China Film Group Corp. (CFGC) for a co-production of a movie, reported India West.
Entitled “Da Tang Xuan Zang” (“Monk Xuan Zang”), the movie will have director Huo Jianq direct actor-singer-model Huang Xiaoming (“American Dreams in China,” “The Message”), who will play the lead role.
Jiang and Huang attended the press conference together with Eros business development president Kumar Ahuja and CFGC head La Peikang. Tong Gang from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television also graced the event.
Scheduled for release in March 2017, the Sino-India co-production will be about the life of Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (born Chen Yi) who lived from 602-664 and traveled extensively in India.
With Bollywood films enjoying a constant warm reception from Chinese moviegoers, do Hollywood films now have a new competitor to look out for?
