MUMBAI: The Chinese are madly falling in love with Funsuk Wangdu and Ranchodas Chanchwad, characters in Amir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, which was released in 2009, and became an instant hit at home.
China opened its doors to the Raju Hirani film two weeks ago, and the Idiots have won over the Chinese as well, creating a record of sorts. In the two weeks since its release with 900 prints, the film has collected Rs 11 crore so far.
"Mainland China is the second biggest film market after the US, but is very tough to enter because only 20 foreign films (including Hollywood) can be screened in China in a year," said Sameer Rao, chief executive officer at Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions who is elated at the response, and expects the film to have a long run at the box office in China, just like it did in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, 3 Idiots was released in October, and is still running to packed houses, collecting close to 16 crore so far.
However, the success of Hirani's 3 Idiots may open the doors for other Bollywood films waiting to be released in China. "Films from various countries are given a chance to be released in China under the quota system. As 3 Idiots is doing very well, Indian films now have a better chance to be released in China. The local distributors too shall try hard as they have seen the response an Indian film can get," said Audrey Lee, owner of Chinese distribution firm Ekdo Films which has released 3 Idiots in some parts of China. The cost of dubbing and marketing in Mainland China has been borne by local distributors like Lee.
"The message in the film has been the 'pull' factor. Such a great response from a non-traditional territory like China is a welcome phenomenon for the Hindi film industry," said Anil Arjun, chief executive officer at Reliance MediaWorks, who has been closely involved with Reliance's overseas distribution.In the Chinese piracy market, the 3 Idiots, it is believed, had already become the highest selling Bollywood film, and estimates suggest over 1.3 lakh Chinese having watched a pirated copy of the film.
The only Bollywood film which got through the Great Wall before this and got a wide release was Karan Johar's My Name is Khan last year, which was distributed by Fox Star.
With the China release, 3 Idiots has become the highest grossing film in the overseas market with collections amounting to Rs 121 crore.
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