Movie World
Bollywood Films that excelled in box-office in China – Part 1 (Dangal)
By Dinesh Kamath
China has become a big market for
Bollywood films. Aamir Khan’s Dangal has impressed the audience in China. Movie Dangal’s box-office collection
in China – Rs 1400 crore approx. The film was directed by Nitesh Tiwari.
Based on a true story, Aamir Khan
portrays the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat who fulfills his dream of winning a
gold medal for his country through his daughters. Aamir played a former
wrestler in the film who trains his daughters to grow up to become strong
wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra essayed the role of his
daughters and gained a lot of love post the film’s release as their
performances were spectacular. Not just in India, the film did extremely well
globally. And in China it has become the highest earning Bollywood film of all
time.
Dangal ('Wrestling competition') is
a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film, directed by Nitesh
Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan, under his studio Aamir Khan Productions with
UTV Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures India. The film is loosely based
on the Phogat family, telling the story of Mahavir Singh Phogat, a pehlwani
amateur wrestler, who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to
become India's first world-class female wrestlers. Aamir Khan stars as Mahavir
Singh Phogat, while Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portray the adult
versions of the two Phogat sisters, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar their
younger versions, Sakshi Tanwar their mother, and Aparshakti Khurana their cousin.
The development of the film began
in early 2013 when Tiwari began writing the screenplay. In 2014, Khan had
invited and interviewed the Phogat sisters on his talk show Satyamev Jayate,
before Tiwari approached him with the script months later, after which Khan
became the lead actor and producer. Set primarily in the Indian State of
Haryana, principal photography commenced in September 2015 in the neighbouring
Punjab. Satyajit Pande served as the cinematographer and Ballu Saluja as the
editor. Pritam scored the film's background music and for its soundtrack,
lyrics for which were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, a
coach with the Indian women's wrestling team, trained Khan and the cast for the
wrestling sequences.
After a North American premiere on
21 December 2016, Dangal was released worldwide on 23 December and received
positive reviews from critics; praise centered on the film's "honest"
depiction of a real-life story and Khan's performance. It was also screened at
the Beijing International Film Festival in April 2017 and second BRICS festival
in June 2017. At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, it won four awards: Best Film, Best
Director, Best Actor (Khan) and Best Action (Shyam). At the 64th National Film
Awards, Wasim won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Geeta's younger
self. Overseas, Dangal won the inaugural Best Asian Film award at Australia's
7th AACTA Awards, 2017's Best Foreign Film and Top Foreign Actor (for Aamir
Khan) from China's Douban Film Awards, and two Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards,
and was nominated in the Asian Brilliant Stars category at the 68th Berlin
International Film Festival.
The film was a record-breaking
commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film ever, the fifth
highest grossing non-English film ever, and the highest-grossing sports film
worldwide. Produced on a budget of ₹70 crore (US$9.7 million), the film grossed
₹2,125.3 crore (US$330 million)[7] worldwide, including $216.2 million in
China, becoming one of the country's top 20 highest-grossing films and the
highest-grossing non-English foreign film in China. The film has also been
watched more than 400 million times on Chinese streaming platforms.
China
In China, a nation where Indian
films were rarely shown, it became the highest grossing Indian film. It was
initially released in six Chinese cities and on Youku under the Chinese title 摔跤吧!爸爸 (pinyin: Shuāijiāo ba bàba,
"Let's Wrestle, Father"). It grossed US$2.48 million on opening day,
and grossed $14.5 million in just three days from theatrical release. The
collections totaled to ₹300 crore at the end of day nine from release, taking the
overall collections past ₹1,000 crore, becoming second Indian film to reach the
mark.
In its second week, it emerged as
the number one film in the country, outselling Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
by US$15 million according to China's film ticketing portal Maoyan, with
collections totaling to over US$84 million (₹544 crore) by the end of 15 days.
In the process, it beat the record held by the 2016 Japanese anime film Your
Name for the highest grossing foreign-language non-Hollywood film in China. It held
the number one position for the second consecutive week taking the overall
collections past ₹1,500 crore. As the film neared its one-month run, it had a
cumulative gross equal to 70 times its opening day figure, breaking the record
set by Zootopia (2016), following which the Chinese government gave the film a
"rare extension" beyond the typical 30-day window. As of 4 July 2017,
Dangal had a cumulative China gross 87 times its opening day haul and 15 times
its debut weekend, having been number one for 16 consecutive days and in the
top three for 34 straight days, and out-lasting and out-grossing heavily
marketed Hollywood movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, King Arthur:
Legend of the Sword, Life, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,
Wonder Woman and Alien: Covenant. When its worldwide gross reached ₹1,930 crore
on 11 June 2017, it became the fifth highest-grossing non-English film of all
time. As of July 2017, Dangal has grossed about ¥1.3 billion ($192 million) in
China. Its overseas gross in China more than doubled its domestic gross in
India. In China, Dangal became one of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all
time, the 8th highest-grossing foreign film, had the most consecutive days with
a ¥10 million ($1 million) gross (surpassing the 30 days of Transformers: Age
of Extinction) and $1 million gross (38 days), was the highest-grossing film in
May 2017 (ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), and is the year's second highest-grossing
foreign film (after The Fate of the Furious). In the month of May, Dangal drew
35 million viewers at the Chinese box office. In 52 days, the film had
44,897,623 admissions at the Chinese box office. Aamir Khan's earnings from
Dangal is estimated to be ₹300 crore (US$42 million), one of the highest
paydays for a non-Hollywood actor. By the end of its run in China, its final
gross there was ¥1,299.12 million, equivalent to $216.2 million (₹1,400 crore).
This was about 86 times its opening day gross, a record in China's box office
history.
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