Ripe time to boost Sino-Indian cultural ties(2)

The highly praised Bollywood comedy 3 Idiots was screened in China in 2011, and earned about 110 million Indian rupees ($1.76 million) from Chinese box offices. However, it is a rare example of an Indian movie doing well in China in recent times. Bollywood romance Awara (1951) still remains the most popular Indian movie in China.

According to the current Chinese policy, only five Indian movies are allowed to be listed among 34 foreign movies that are officially screened on the Chinese mainland every year, the Hindustan Times reported.

Hollywood movies pour into China and leave little room for other foreign movies to be viewed, Wang Yiwen, a professor from Beijing Normal University, told China Daily in a previous interview.

Analysts also say that Chinese audiences may have looked at India's entire movie world on the basis of some earlier cliche-ridden Hindi films that featured too many songs and dances.

Other than a lack of audience understanding, China's academic study of Indian movies is limited. A recent report by the Asian and Chinese-language movies research center at Beijing Normal University shows there are 1,792 Chinese academic articles on South Korean films in their database but only 246 on Indian films.

Additionally, China and India are practically invisible from each other's big screens despite being neighbors.

Other than the Bollywood comedy Chandni Chowk to China (2009), which chose some settings in Shanghai, it is difficult to spot a recent Hindi movie that set its story in China. It is equally difficult to find an Indian setting in a Chinese movie. The last Chinese blockbuster shot in India was The Myth (2004), starring Jackie Chan.

Nevertheless, a promising example of bilateral collaboration is the Chinese comedy titled Wandering to India (when roughly translated). The film, which tells the story of a farmer's exotic adventure, just finished its shooting in India.

The comedy is directed by Zhang Jianya, who is famous for his historical films, and stars Chinese actor Wang Xuebing. It began shooting in June but kept a low profile until the bilateral movie agreement was signed. Although it has ignited public curiosity, no poster or trailer of the new movie has been released so far.

According to Zhou Xing, a professor of cinema at the School of Art and Communication, Beijing Normal University, Chinese producers could benefit from India's world-class technology in post-production. The expenses are also likely to be lower than Hollywood and South Korean studios. The quota of Indian movies entering Chinese theaters could be increased when audiences better accept them, Zhou says.

"Though China and India have different ideologies, the communication in the movie industry will psychologically shorten the distance between people in the two countries," Zhou says.