How Dangal made it big in China

Movie is a hit in China but does it open up the world's second largest film market for Bollywood?

Shuai Jiao Baba. This dubbed and subtitled version of Dangal that means ‘Let’s Wrestle, Dad’ in Chinese is one of the biggest hits running in China currently. In its second week, Nitesh Tiwari’s film about a father’s struggle to help his daughters win a medal in international wrestling has wrested the top spot from Guardians of the Galaxy 2. After ten days, Dangal hit a cumulative gross of $60.27 million, or Rs 386 crore, in China, according to entertainment research service provider EntGroup. Both films released on May 5 in China. 

Dangal is the highest grossing Indian film ever at Rs 1,173 crore (and counting) globally. Of this, over Rs 600 crore came from   overseas markets. This makes it the biggest Indian hit globally. Disney India, which announced last year that it will be closing down its film business after the release of Dangal and Jagga Jasoos, declined to comment. But across the Rs-14,200-crore Indian film industry, there is a sense of exultation about the possible opening up of the world’s second largest market for Bollywood. Indian films are largely an unprofitable business because they are under-screened and under-monetised, negating the strength of a creatively robust industry. 

“Dangal is significant because it is a hit in a market with no significant diaspora and where the local population is watching the film. We keep talking of a cross-over, this is a cross-over,” emphasises one senior film industry veteran. “The (Chinese) market is big. It is used to a certain scale and spectacle from Hollywood, which we can’t match up. The lesson is don’t try to be like Hollywood, just push Bollywood,” says Ajit Thakur, CEO, Trinity Pictures, a part of the Rs 1,582-crore Eros, India’s largest film studio. Among other films, Thakur is putting together two Indo-Chinese co-productions. “It is not an easy market to navigate. We need to go there, network and connect. And Aamir (Khan, the lead actor and producer of the film) did that. He gave time and commitment,” says he.

Thakur points to one of the two reasons Dangal has done well in China — time and investment in distribution and marketing. The other reason is choice of film and timing. They are also indicative answers to the question everybody is asking: Will Dangal open up China for Indian films? 

Why China matters

At $6.6 billion in box office collections in 2016, China is just behind the US/Canada’s $11.4 billion. Unlike the US or India, however, it is a controlled market where only 34 foreign films can be released in a year. “In a normal year, Chinese commercial films play well with Chinese audiences. And, helped by regulatory intervention, in most of the past five years, Chinese-language films have enjoyed roughly 60 per cent market share,” says Patrick Frater, Asia editor, Variety. Dangal, 3 Idiots and PK, all Aamir starrers, are among the few non-Hollywood, non-Chinese hits.

So far, roughly half the revenues that Indian films make overseas have come from Shah Rukh Khan films. He is a huge draw in the US, UK, Europe, and Central Asian markets. However, South-East Asia and China have remained poor markets for Indian films historically. Is this then about an Indian star getting a new audience? “No Indian performer is a big star in China, Aamir Khan may be the nearest there is to one. He has been in two films that performed all right in China and he recently made the effort to put in time with press and audiences in Beijing,” says Frater. 3 Idiots, the story of the pressures of the educational system in India, resonated with the Chinese. PK appealed to a society where atheism is popular.

There was therefore a context and Disney leveraged it for Dangal. It was the opening film at the Beijing International Film Festival. And was then released across 8,000 screens in partnership with Huaxia Film Distribution, China’s second largest film distributor. Aamir and Tiwari went on a tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu over nine days. Aamir interacted extensively with the local media, giving one-on-one interviews, engaging with fans, film and entertainment personalities and audiences. The effort, Aamir’s equity and a well-made film worked as a combination. 

The second reason Dangal worked is timing. The China market has slowed considerably from the second half of 2016. “Chinese audiences seem to have been asking for better value from local movies. Film makers have been busily reassessing genre, casting, script and above all quality. As a result, Hollywood has enjoyed a market share of perhaps 80 per cent so far in 2017,” says Frater. But Hollywood offers lot of big spectacle, creature films and franchises which Chinese audiences are familiar with. “India represents novelty and diversity. Chinese audiences like bright, shiny, noisy things, which is a stereotypical view of Bollywood movies, but one that audiences can buy into,” says Frater. This changing market then presents an opportunity Indian studios could grab

The shifting sands of Indo-China ties

So does Dangal open up the China market? “Difficult to be sure. Some Indian films have flopped in China: Baahubali, for one. And China’s 2016 foreign-language Oscar contender Xuanzang, a India-China co-production was invisible at the box-office with just $4.8 million,” says Frater. The Indian industry just has to keep making the films it does and look for the ones that are likely to resonate, says the film industry veteran. 

The risks involved also mean that most films are licensed on “flat fee terms, rather than revenue-sharing terms like the big Hollywood films. That limits the financial upside for Indian rights owners,” says Frater. He points to another more critical factor. “The political winds could change in an instant. In mid-2016 after China turned against Korea, co-productions have been cancelled, talent removed and no Korean films can get a release in China, not even in a festival,” says he. 

For now, though, Dangal is more about the tantalising possibility of a large new market for Indian films. 

In success of Indian films in China, echoes of One Belt, One Road

The first Indian film screened in China was Awara (1951). It was dubbed into Chinese in 1955 by Changchun Film Studio, one of the major state-run studios in China then. Caravan (1971) was distributed in China in 1980 by the Shanghai Film Studio. Both films were enormously popular in China. Caravan, in particular, was the talk of the town for its theme of class division and social mobility. 

The revival of Indian films in China and the push for Sino-Indian co-production in the last couple of years are linked directly to China's One Belt One Road initiative. And to its strategy to create a regional alliance that connects the two most populated countries in the world to serve as counter balance to the US-led Western nexus. 

Historically, the Indian film industry has a far more sophisticated market structure than the Chinese one. Though moralistic, Indian films are not as didactic as Chinese films. Recent Indian films popular in China have resonated for their genuine human touch. 

Ying Zhu is a  New York-based Chinese film and media expert.