Has Bollywood breached the Great Wall?

Huan Xiangyang was 11 when he gathered with hundreds of his compatriots in an open ground in China to watch the Raj Kapoor classic Awaara. This was in 1979. China was still reeling from the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese were starved of social and cultural stimulus and eager to control unrest, the government decided to open up the economy. Awaara, released in India in 1951, was one of the first foreign films allowed in. It was a massive hit with approximately 30 million tickets sold, estimates Beijing-based film critic Raymond Zhou.

Awaara’s success could be attributed to its message that came at a crucial time in Chinese history, says Huan, now a journalist with China Daily. “The film’s theme that circumstances, not class, decide one’s future was revolutionary. It busted the popular belief in China that class dictated one’s future.” So when Kapoor (a tramp) declared ‘Awaara hoon’ rather cheerfully, he melted Chinese hearts. Huan went on to become a Bollywood fan, watching films like Noorie, Caravan and Shree 420 along the way.

More recently, he enjoyed watching 3 Idiots but he’ll never forget his first Hindi film. “I can still sing Awaara hoon,” he laughs.

CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA
One would have thought that after that 1979 Bollywood breach of the Chinese market, Indian movies would have found slow but ready acceptance in that country. However, the next Bollywood film to make as massive an impact was the Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots, nearly 32 years later.

The reasons for this are many. Till 2001, China only allowed 10 foreign films in. That quota was increased to 20 in 2001 with an additional 14 for the big screen format. This means that Bollywood films jostle for space with big-budget Hollywood blockbusters that smash Chinese box office (BO) records with mind-numbing regularity.

But Bollywood is undoubtedly gaining popularity steadily as Beijing-based housewife Manasi Bhatt will testify to. She was initially apprehensive that the 3 Idiots show she was planning to go for would be cancelled because of poor ticket sales. But when the 30-year old reached the theatre and saw the crowds, she started worrying about something else. “There was such a huge crowd that I was worried that we wouldn’t get a ticket,” says Bhatt, who was astonished to see a large number of Chinese youngsters queuing up for the film.

Beijing-based journalist Chitralekha Basu credits Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle with bringing Bollywood back into the Chinese consciousness. “I have heard AR Rahman’s rousing railway station platform anthem being played at the unlikeliest places here. Bollywood-style naach-gana is really popular.”

Suresh Kumar Goel, who heads the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), a government organisation involved in cultural diplomacy, agrees naach-gaana is popular. “In 2010, during the Shanghai expo, we organised a performance by Bollywood artistes. It was a major hit and we received several requests after that to hold similar programmes in the future.”

Last year, Tina Vachani, an entrepreneur who runs Routes2Roots, a Delhi-based NGO that ‘strives to bridge the socio-cultural distance between India and the world,’ took 14-15 films from the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals to China and says the response exceeded expectations. “At the multiplexes that screened these films, we also created a film poster exhibition. Bollywood dance groups performed popular numbers at the venue too. The venues were packed,” she says.

INDIAN SATIRE IS TOPS
Some point out that a certain kind of Bollywood movie does better than others. Besides 3 Idiots, many light satires like Munnabhai MBBS (rated quite high at 8.0 on the popular Chinese portal Douban), and the politically themed My Name is Khan have fan followings in China, says Arun Kumar Sahu, counsellor (political & culture) at the Embassy of India in Beijing, who believes Indian “movies showcase an emerging India before China.”

One reason for this could be that since China exercises tight control over all aspects of filmmaking, films that mock status quo, the political system, show the unflattering side of China or talk about taboo subjects (sex/homosexuality) are likely to be banned.

Foreign films that address these issues fill the vacuum.

“We would never have a movie like 3 Idiots which talks about issues concerning education which is a serious issue in China too. When our students leave school, they have high marks but no skills,” says Huang.

SHOW ME THE MONEY
But it’s going to be some time before we can expect Bollywood films to bring in the kind of money Hollywood films do. According to Chinese news agency, Xinhua, Hollywood blockbusters Transformers: Dark of The Moon, Avatar and Kung Fu Panda 2 are among the top BO hits of all time in China, with Avatar earning a whopping $182million (see box for others). More recently, Titanic 3D made $67million in six days.

Compare this to the modest $2.12 million (Rs 11 crore) that 3 Idiots made in the first two weeks of its release; and this was a Bollywood BO record too!

Film critic Zhou perhaps has an explanation why. “It is difficult to get an audience for a Hindi film,” he says, adding that its length, unnecessary song-and-dance sequences and a predictable storyline are drawbacks. A distributor friend of Zhou’s apparently marketed 3 Idiots as unlike a “typical Indian movie”. Distributors back home are aware of these drawbacks, says a trade source who didn’t wish to be named. That is why “when My Name is Khan and 3 Idiots released in China, they were cut by 20 minutes.”

When Zhou watched Lagaan on DVD, he was impressed by the way the movie was intelligently edited and cut short by 40 minutes.

But there is definitely a market in China to be tapped. Post 3 Idiots’ success, distributors like UTV are looking at China and Hong Kong to release Hindi movies in theatres, admits Amrita Pandey, senior VP, UTV Motion Pictures, who refused to divulge any movie names though.

However Vachani and Rakesh Gupta, her business partner, feel that Bollywood is not taking China seriously enough. “The film industry has largely ignored the Chinese market. They have to focus on it. China has multiplexes even in remote cities now,” says Vachani. Gupta says he’s had a tough time convincing Bollywood stars and producers to even come to China for events.

“They are ready to go to Dubai, US, UK to perform but not to China, because they still don’t see it as a market.”

The fact that China’s box office collections has grown in leaps and bounds since 2001 might spark some interest. In 2001, its takings were a paltry $143 million (Rs7.4 billion). Ten years later, the figure is a whopping $2 billion (Rs106 billion). What is Bollywood waiting for?

(With inputs from Aditya Kaul)