Indian filmmakers at this year’s “Bollywood Oscars” weekend in Macau are looking beyond the lucrative market of Hollywood into what they consider to be an even more exciting partner: China.
The selection of this southern Chinese territory as host of this year’s International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) underlines Bollywood’s desire to work closer with its Chinese counterpart.
Sabbas Joseph, director of the event — a star-studded annual extravaganza celebrating the prolific Hindi movie industry — said many subjects tackled by cinema appeal to both Indian and Chinese audiences because of common values and traditions.
Veteran Bollywood film critic Taran Adash said the collaboration was long-awaited.
“The sheer thought of China and India working together gives me a high,” he said.
China’s technology, actors and martial arts were “way ahead” of their Indian counterparts, and many Chinese films that were dubbed into Indian languages proved to be highly popular in India, he said.
Last year, China’s nationwide box office receipts hit a record 4.2 billion yuan (US$610 million), up 27 percent from 2007, thanks to a growing audience of well-off young urbanites and an increase in big-ticket Chinese films.
The trend seems to have continued amid the economic downturn, according to figures from the State Administration for Film, Television and Radio. In the first three months of the year, box office receipts jumped more than 50 percent to 1.25 billion yuan.
However, China-India crossover films are still in their infancy. Chandni Chowk to China, co-produced by Bollywood veteran Ramesh Sippy and US studio Warner Bros, bombed at the box office when it opened in January.
“The two cultures are similar but really not that similar,” said Fred Wang (汪長禹), chairman of Hong Kong-based production company Salon Films and a speaker at the IIFA forum on the future of the Indian and Chinese film industries. “To start with, China had closed its door to the West for many years, while India is a former British colony.”
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
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