Movie World
Bollywood Films that excelled in box-office in China – Part 3
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Picture
China has become a big market for
Bollywood films and almost every big film that hits the theatres in India is
released there to gain more profits as the country has proved to be quite
beneficial for the makers. Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan has impressed the
audience in China to the extent that they have made some big bucks at the cash
counters there. Here’s an account of the extent to which Bajrangi Bhaijaan
pulled the audience to the theatres in huge numbers in China.
This Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi
Bhaijaan directed by Kabir Khan had an extremely emotional and endearing plot.
A young mute girl finds herself lost in India after she misses her train after
which a young spirited man took the task of taking her back to Pakistan on
himself. The film definitely did great in India but it went on to break big
records at the box-office in China. Its box-office collection in China was Rs
295.76 crore.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan (transl. Brother
Bajrangi) is an Indian comedy-drama film written and directed by Kabir Khan,
co-written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad and Parveez Sheikh, and produced by
Salman Khan and Rockline Venkatesh. It stars Salman Khan and Harshaali Malhotra
in leading roles, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Kareena Kapoor Khan in
supporting roles. Salman Khan plays Bajrangi, an ardent devotee of Hindu deity
Hanuman, who embarks on a journey to take a mute six-year-old Pakistani Muslim
girl, separated in India from her parents, back to her hometown in Pakistan.
Made on a budget of ₹90 crore
(US$13 million), the principal photography commenced in November 2014. The
cinematography was done by Aseem Mishra and was edited by Rameshwar S. Bhagat.
Julius Packiam composed the film score while the songs featured in the film
were composed by Pritam.
The film received critical acclaim,
holding a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film grossed ₹969 crore ($150
million) worldwide, and is currently the third highest-grossing Indian film and
second highest-grossing Bollywood film. It won the National Film Award for Best
Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the 63rd National Film
Awards, and was nominated for four awards at the 61st Filmfare Awards,
including Best Film and Best Actor, and won the Filmfare Award for Best Story.
It was also nominated for Best Foreign Film in China's 2015 Douban Film Awards.
Release in China
Bajrangi Bhaijaan was released on
17 July 2015, one day before Eid, on 4,500 screens in India and 1,000 screens
in overseas respectively. The film was also released in 50 countries outside
India, on more than 700 screens. Bajrangi Bhaijaan premiered at the 20th Busan
International Film Festival (BIFF) on 6 October 2015.
In November 2017, it was announced
that Bajrangi Bhaijaan was set to release in China, following the success of
Aamir Khan's Dangal (2016) in the country. In December 2017, it was announced
the film would release there in 2018. Prior to the announcement, Bajrangi
Bhaijaan had a cult following in China, where it has an average rating of 8.6
out of 10 on the popular film site Douban, with over 70,000 votes. It placed
fourth on Douban's list of top foreign movies of 2015. Bajrangi Bhaijaan will
be released in China under the title 小萝莉的猴神大叔 which roughly translates as "Little Lolita's
Monkey God Uncle"; "monkey god" is a rough translation of
"Bajrangi" while "little lolita" and "uncle"
reference the characters. The Chinese version will also be cut down in length
to 140 minutes. The film released in China on 2 March 2018. In January 2018, it
was announced that the film will be getting a wide release, on 8,000 screens in
China, building on the Chinese box office success of Aamir Khan's Dangal and
Secret Superstar (2017), and Bajrangi Bhaijaan's positive word-of-mouth. On 6
February 2018, the film had advance screenings in 29 Chinese cities, receiving
a positive reception from audiences. It also had a limited preview on 25
February 2018. The film's China premiere on 27 February 2018 was attended by
Kabir Khan and Harshali Malhotra. Its release date of 2 March 2018 marks the
Lantern Festival, which celebrates families coming together.
It was released in Turkey on 17
August 2018 on 190 screens. In the first weekend it grossed approx $89,796 with
a spectator count of 8,389. The film released in Japan on 18 January 2019, with
the title "バジュランギおじさんと、小さな迷子"
(Bajurangi ojisan to, chīsana maigo), which translates as "Uncle Bajrangi
and a small lost child".
Box office in China
In China, on its opening day of 2
March 2018, the film grossed US$2.29 million, debuting at number seven on the
daily China box office. This is the fourth-highest opening for an Indian film
in China, after Secret Superstar ($6.97 million), Hindi Medium ($3.68 million)
and Dangal ($2.55 million), while Bajrangi Bhaijaan also crossed the lifetime
China gross of 3 Idiots (2009). On its second day, Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed
$3.11 million, entering the top five, with a two-day gross of $5.36 million. It
grossed another $3.13 million in its third day, giving it an opening weekend
gross of $9 million It is the third-highest opening weekend for an Indian film,
behind only Secret Superstar and Dangal, and it has become the highest-grossing
Indian film not starring Aamir Khan. The successful opening weekend of Bajrangi
Bhaijaan has been attributed to strong word of mouth, generated by high
audience ratings such as 8.6 on Douban and 9.7 on Maoyan.
On the 14th day of its release, the
film grossed $1.13 million and became the first Indian movie not featuring
Aamir Khan to gross more than ₹200 crore in the Chinese market, grossing $31.12
million up until then. In 31 days, the film had a cumulative gross of $48
million (₹313 crore). The film's audiences were about 60% female and 40% male,
and the majority were in the 20–34 age group. It surpassed Star Wars: The Last
Jedi to become the seventh highest-grossing film in China during the first
quarter of 2018, behind only Hindi film Secret Superstar and several Hollywood
films including Black Panther and Pacific Rim: Uprising.
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