Indian Film About Women's Professional Wrestling Tops Chinese Box Office

Indian actor Aamir Khan, who starred in a movie called Dangal, has reportedly raked in nearly $30 million in its first-week box office collections in China and becoming the highest grossing Indian film in the country. Dangal, based on the real life of two wrestler sisters, was released in China on May 4.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Nitesh Tiwari-directed Dangal has also crossed the collections of Hollywood's offering Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on its seventh day in Chinese theater. Until Thursday, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 did a business of $3.5 million, according to media reports.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan speaks to the media during the poster launch of his film Dangal in Mumbai, India, Monday, July 4, 2016

© AP Photo / Rafiq Maqbool

Released as Wrestling! Father, Dangal is not the first offering from Bollywood in China. Earlier, Khan's PK, 3 Idiots, andDhoom 3 too did well, but nowhere likeDangal. Several other Indian movies, including Baahubali: The Beginning have done well in China.

Bollywood critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh was the first to tweet about Dangal's success.

HISTORY! #Dangal has Topped the Chinese Box Office, 1st Indian Movie in 104 years of Indian cinema to do so. pic.twitter.com/BPCFuh7whu

— Taran Adarsh (@taran_adaarsh) May 11, 2017

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#Dangal creates history in China. @aamir_khan proves his super stardom once again. Wed $ 3.96 mn. Total: $ 22.78 million [₹ 147.04 cr].

— Taran Adarsh (@taran_adaarsh) May 11, 2017

​The success of Indian movies in China opens a new market for Bollywood, the Indian Hindi film industry, and other regional cinemas from the country. China is the second-largest movie market after the US, offering nearly 28,000 theaters.

A Bollywood flick which is typically released in just around 5,000 screens, could rake in big bucks in China, where Indian movies and TV series are gaining a huge following. Sputnik earlier reported that many entrepreneurs and sub-groups to write subtitles for these movies and soaps from Russian and English versions are fast growing in China.

Not only that, many Chinese movies distribution companies are entering into agreements with their Indian counterparts to market these movies, generating revenue and jobs on both sides of the border and enhancing people-to-people contacts.

A major challenge, however, remains government restrictions in China, which prioritize local content and limit the number of foreign films releasing in the country to 34 a year.