In late November, Indian film Maharaja made about 3.13 million USD during its opening weekend in China. By the end of 10 days, however, it had more than doubled that number and continued to grow from strength to strength.  

The Tamil language film, which stars celebrated actor Vijay Sethupathi in a leading role, is an action-thriller that follows “a barber who seeks vengeance after his home is burglarized,” according to its official IMDb page. 

When we asked about what kind of films perform well in East Asian markets, Swapnil Rai, an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Michigan, says that a strong storyline is the most important thing and that star appeal can only get you so far.  

“It has to have good content. And that’s why a lot of South Indian films are doing well in China,” Rai says. 

History of Indian films 

Following the end of the Chinese Cultural revolution in 1976, China looked to Indian films as a source of entertainment, according to what Professor Daya Thussu told us, the author of Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood. 

India already had a well-established film industry, with films being made since the early 20th century. 

“They needed some kind of escapist, melodrama, which would interest the Chinese audiences,” Thussu said, adding that the Chinese film industry at the time offered very little in the name of entertainment. Indian films such as 1951’s Awaara, which was released four years after its original release on the Chinese mainland, gained tremendous success due to the socialist themes explored in the Raj Kapoor directed film. The film’s title song, Awaara Hoon, also gained popularity in the Middle Kingdom.

“China has always had a certain type of understanding of films and what films should be like,” Rai says. 

In 1978, however, China decided to reform its economy and began to open up to the rest of the world. This coincided with the time when there was a decline in the number of Indian films being released in China, as Hollywood began to make its mark in the country. In 1994, The Fugitive, an action-thriller starring Harrison Ford, became a major commercial success, attracting over 1.4 million admissions nationwide. 

In Japan, meanwhile, certain Indian actors such as Jeetendra and Rajinikanth have proven to be immensely popular. 

Rajinikanth, an actor best known for his over-the-top action scenes and charismatic screen presence, was arguably one of the first Indian actors to make his mark in Japan. In 1995, for instance, one of his films, Muthu ran for 23 weeks and went on to collect approximately 1.6 million USD during the course of its theatrical run.

Modern success stories

The Aamir Khan hit, 3 Idiots, released in 2011 in China and became one of the very first Indian films to become a financial success in the Middle Kingdom in the 21st century. 

“[The Chinese mainland] is the second biggest film market after the US, but is very tough to enter because only 20 foreign films can be screened in China in a year,” said Sameer Rao, the then CEO at Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, about the challenges that foreign films faced at the time.   

Since then, other films have managed to break through and make a name for themselves. This, in large part, is because the number of foreign films that can enter the Chinese market has since grown to 34.

Successful films would often touch on social issues that Chinese audiences could strongly resonate with, including those about gender. “How else would you explain a film like Toilet becoming popular in China?” asks Rai. 

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a 2017 Indian film that tells the story of a married couple in a village, where the wife in the marriage threatens to leave her husband unless he builds a toilet in their home. Access to toilets in rural India is still an issue that affects some of the country’s population. 

“They’ve viewed the journey, [and] they can empathize with or relate to the kind of struggles that are being highlighted in the Indian context,” Rai added.

Meanwhile in Japan, films with both fantasy and an aspirational quality have been able to connect with audiences there. 

This is evident with the success of films such as RRR and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, both directed by S.S. Rajamouli, having a strong fantasy element to them. While The Conclusion managed to generate about 1.3 million USD, according to Box Office Mojo, RRR managed to even exceed that total.

Rajnikanth films also fit the description of what Japanese audiences are looking for, with regard to Indian cinema. Apart from the success of Muthu during the mid-1990s, some of Thalaivar’s recent films have also tasted success in the market. In July 2021, for example, the Rajnikanth film Darbar, which released a year prior in India, went on to become a major box-office success in Japan.  

What does the future hold? 

Experts believe that the future of Indian films in markets such as China is uncertain, given geopolitical tensions between the two countries. 

“At the end of the day, it’s a political situation. So if India and China are not talking to each other, then they won’t be exchanging films,” says Thussu. 

There is, however, some hope on the horizon, with a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping taking place on the sidelines of last October’s BRICS summit that brought together some of the world’s most important developing countries. The meeting between the two leaders was the first since Chinese and Indian soliders were involved in a deadly clash along a disputed Himalayan border region in 2020. 

As for Japan, experts such as Rai believe that a lot will depend on the quality of Indian films and that their success will likely be judged on a case-by-case basis. Competition from Hollywood fare will also likely play a major contributing factor in terms of their visibility, given the big budgets available in Tinseltown. 

“These two markets, in particular, have their own films, and also have access to content from the West,” Rai added. “India needs to make an effort in mobilizing its soft power and films could prove to play a big part in that.” 

Cover image by Newsbytes.