On May 10, "A Mother's Revenge" was released; on May 24, "Above the Clouds"; on June 6, "Omnipotent", plus the slightly earlier "Tuner", in the second quarter of this year, Indian cinema ushered in a small explosion.
2019 is a recognized film and television year in the industry, and under the multiple roles of capital and policies, there are insufficient original projects in the mainland. In order to alleviate the embarrassment of not having a film to watch, films from other countries and regions have filled the gap. In addition to the regular Hollywood blockbusters, the remaining share was divided between Hong Kong, Japanese and Indian films.
In the past two years, Indian films have soared in the mainland market. From the beginning of the unknown nationality, it has gradually become an independent side, which has become an important part of the mainland movie market to fill the gap.
More and more films, the market is getting cooler?
Stills from "Wrestle, Daddy."
With little time left in the game, Geeta trailing by four points, supporters nervous and little hope of victory. The picture flashes back to When Geeta was a child, her father shouted at her who fell into the water: "Remember, Dad can't come to save you every time, I can only teach you to fight, but you have to fight on your own strength, do your best, save yourself." ”
Many viewers still remember the highlight moment of "Wrestle, Daddy" that followed— in the last few seconds, Geeta struck east and west, circled behind her opponent, and gave her a solid hug. 5 points to get, Geeta won the gold, making history.
In the just-released "Omnipotent", the wife of the blind hero Luohan committed suicide because of two consecutive sexual assaults, and the police colluded with officials to cover up the crime, and Luohan had to embark on the road of revenge.
In the film, there is also a climactic scene that makes the audience passionate. Facing the inaction of the police, LuoHan unashamedly declared that he would carry out an unblemished revenge: "The game they started, you wait to see the good play." "After saying that, turn around and leave.
In recent years, Indian films introduced into China have always resonated with the audience with the awakening of the protagonist.
From the earliest Indian film "Wanderer" introduced in 1955, the history of Indian films in the mainland has exceeded 60 years, until 2011, "Three Fools Bollywood" turned out to be a success and re-entered the field of vision of mainland audiences.
According to Southwest Securities data, from 2014 to 2016, the number of Indian films released in the mainland has always remained 2 per year, and the average box office is around 10 million. Except for "My God", which was released in 2015, which achieved a breakthrough box office of 118 million yuan, the overall performance was lackluster.
In fact, the rise of Indian films in the mainland began in 2017. That year, "Wrestle, Daddy" swept 1.299 billion at the domestic box office, becoming the top three foreign language films in 2017.
At the time, the result surprised many in the industry. Although the mainland film market had risen at that time, and it was not unusual for films with hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, this performance was indeed outstanding. You know, in the same year, Han Han's "Riding the Wind and Waves" occupied the New Year file, drummed up enough publicity horsepower, and the final performance was only 1.046 billion.
Since then, Indian films have suddenly swept the mainland big screen with a dark horse posture. In 2018, a total of 10 Indian films were released on the mainland, more than the total number of Indian films released in the mainland in the past 10 years, and the average box office also reached 176 million yuan.
Considering that the mainland has always strictly controlled the number of imported films, this is not a small number. It can be said that 2017 and 2018 are the big breakthrough years for Indian films in the mainland market.
This Indian film boom is closely related to the cultural cooperation between China and India. In 2014, the two countries signed the Agreement between the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Press and Broadcasting of the Republic of India on Audiovisual Co-production, and the China-India Co-production Project was officially launched. "Kung Fu Yoga", "Tang Xuanzang" and "Big Trouble Tianzhu" became the first batch of Sino-Indian cooperative film projects.
The signing of the agreement has also made Indian films that have not been paid attention to a target for a number of Chinese import companies.
Although the number of Indian films has increased, the overall average box office has begun to slowly decline. Of the ten Indian films of 2018, Mystery Superstar performed best, grossing 747 million. The rest of the good more than 200 million, ordinary tens of millions, no longer "Wrestle, Daddy" grand scene.
Are Indian movies starting to get cold? Many people have raised such questions.
"Not really." He Wei, CEO of Genesis Star Pictures, explains to China Newsweek. In his view, at present, the volume and share of Indian films in the mainland are almost normal. It started out as just an outburst and wasn't sustainable.
Genesis Star Pictures is the introducer of Wrestlemanship, Daddy. The company first came to prominence, and was noticed by the industry, in 2010, when it bought out "Daredevil" for $500,000, earning 220 million at the box office. Since then, Genesis Star has been active in the introduction of films, and a considerable part of the business is related to Indian films.
He Wei said that the success of 2017 is mainly based on amir Khan's success as an individual and does not represent the whole of Indian cinema. "We've been doing amir Khan's promotion and publicity for about three or four years."
In his view, the successful promotion of Indian films in the mainland requires iconic characters, events and works. And Amir Khan naturally became this symbol.
Father-daughter love, female status, the explosive point of Indian cinema
"Will Amir Khan come to your dubbing room?"
The male protagonist, Luo Han, imitates the veteran Indian movie star Amidap Ba Qiang to send blessings to his wife. The wife asked Luohan this question. Seeing this, the scene laughed. This is a scene that took place at the Beijing premiere of "Omnipotent" on the afternoon of June 2.
"Don't talk about Amir Khan, I'll take the 'Three Khans' with me for dinner today." Rohan's response on the other end of the phone caused a burst of laughter at the scene.
With the introduction of movies such as "My Name is Khan", "Wrestle, Daddy", "Little Lolita's Monkey God Uncle" and so on, the audience gradually became familiar with the "Three Khans of India" - Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, salman Khan.
The star of "Omnipotent" Hlynik Rohan is relatively unfamiliar to Chinese audiences compared to the "Three Khans". He is also an Indian king movie star known as stallone, Brad Pitt and Michael Jackson in india. There are film masterpieces such as "Indian Superman" series and "Request in the Rain".
Hernik Ross Khan at the premiere of "Omnipotent."
At the premiere event, when the audience who had just watched the movie had not yet stepped out of the undulating plot, they were infected by the "contrasting cuteness" of the lead actor Hlynik Rohan. Unlike the affectionate and resolute character, he is friendly and humorous, humble and courteous, and whenever he answers a live question in English, he will add a Chinese "thank you". The premiere event turned into a large circle of fans.
In fact, not every Indian film can impress mainland audiences. He Wei told China News Weekly that although the production of Indian films is quite high, "overall, less than 20% are suitable for international screening." ”
First of all, the viewing habits of Indian audiences are very different from those in China. In mainland India, movies are usually around 150 minutes long, and the total length of time, including intermissions and interstitial advertising, tends to be close to three hours.
Second, India's domestic structure is complex, and in fact there is no unified viewing market. Linguistically, India's movie market is divided into Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Audiences in different regions have different languages, cultures, beliefs and lifestyles. In India alone, the film has to be cut out in several versions, and if you want to go to sea, you need to adjust it again.
Geographically, Indian production companies are divided into two systems: North India and South India. "Bollywood" belongs to the North Indian film, the overall style is biased towards Hollywood, and the theme of the story is more serious. The "Three Khans" are the pillars of North Indian cinema. Since 2015, almost all of the films released in the mainland have been North Indian films, such as: "My God", "Mysterious Superstar", "Little Lolita's Monkey God Uncle", "Toilet Hero", "Starting Line" and so on.
South Indian cinema has more song and dance and traditional cultural elements, and the cultural imprint is very deep. When it is introduced to the interior, it is easy to face the dilemma of "disobedience to the soil and water." In 2016, "Baahubali" suffered a crushing defeat in the mainland, earning only 7.45 million at the box office.
"Baahubali" is the total box office champion in India and overseas to date. This is a typical South Indian film that tells the story of the kingdom of Moses Smedes. There are quite a few traditional elements in the film, which are similar to the mainland and "Chibi" and "See the Dragon Unloading".
Now the failure of the review of "Baahubali King" is, in He Wei's view, for many reasons. But that doesn't mean the quality of the film itself isn't good enough. "South Indian cinema also needs to be recognized by the audience, and we have not done a good job. For example, distribution, as well as communication with the theater, are not done well. ”
However, "Baahubali King 2" has a significant increase at the box office, reaching 76 million. He Wei believes that this represents an increase in the recognition of South Indian films in the mainland.
Zhao Zhuoqun, the promoter of "Wrestle, Daddy" and "Starting Line", also told China News Weekly that because there are too many traditional Indian cultural elements, compared with North Indian movies, South Indian movies have a certain viewing threshold for mainland audiences, and it is easier to understand the situation.
The core of publicity work is to find the common point of audience emotions. So, I'm doing Wrestlemania! During the publicity work of "Daddy", Zhao Zhuoqun split the story of the movie. The main propaganda point was placed on the father-daughter relationship and the status of women in India.
"There are a part of the audience who don't want their parents to dominate their lives, and they can easily get into the scope of our predetermined discussion." Zhao Zhuoqun explained, "Combined with the status of women in India (the topic), the audience can discuss it on social networks after watching the film, and assist in publicizing the secondary fermentation." ”
Cutting through the story, the lead actor Amir Khan himself is also very topical, and he gained or lost 54 pounds in a short period of time for the role. Compared with some artists who were deeply involved in the "cutout" and "green screen" public opinion storms in that year, the professional cultivation of actors has become one of the discussion points of the audience.
When "Starting Line" was released, Zhao Zhuoqun also adopted a similar publicity strategy. The film focuses on the schooling of Children in India. She extended the topic to the discussion on the "starting line of education" and "the cold door noble son" in the mainland, which also played a good role. In the end, "The Starting Line" earned 210 million at the box office.
The dilemma is that these real-life stories in India, although they have some distant similarities with the mainland, still have cultural barriers. After the bustle, the freshness of the audience is also decreasing.
Zhao Zhuoqun predicted that too much exposure would cause harm to Indian films. Sooner or later, the appearance of the same theme will make the audience aesthetically tired, "the future publicity work will only become more and more difficult." ”
The acting skills of actors are the foundation of their lives
Compared with domestic films, Indian films have their own unique advantages. The first is that the actor's salary is more reasonable, and most of the funds can be used in the production of the film itself.
According to Southwest Securities data, Bollywood A-class stars account for about 15% to 20% of the film box office. The remuneration of ordinary stars or newcomers ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. The remuneration of traffic stars in the mainland ranges from millions of yuan to tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions.
At the recent "How Film and Television Companies Cross to the Dark Hour" forum, An Xiaofen, president of Dasheng International Media, also lamented that well-known actors in India, such as Amir Khan, basically collect remuneration through the form of participating in the project. If the box office response of the movie is high, it will pay more money, and vice versa, it will take less. Mainland stars basically require early payment of film remuneration, and the amount is not low, which often leads to great pressure on the project side and the inability to allocate more funds to the project itself.
Before the premiere of "Omnipotent", Hrinik Rohan admitted in an interview with China News Weekly that India does not have the concept of "small fresh meat" and "traffic star", and the actor's acting skills are the foundation of their standing.
The Can-Dos poster
He Wei and Zhao Zhuoqun both believe that if you want to continue to enhance the awareness of Indian films in the mainland and expand market share, there are two ways: one is to go deep into the front end of the industrial chain and ensure that the film can meet the tastes of mainland audiences from the source; the other is to introduce different styles of Indian films to cultivate the acceptance of different themes by mainland audiences.
Before 2015, the price of imported films was not expensive, and hundreds of thousands of yuan could buy out the mainland distribution rights of an overseas film. In 2016, with the fire in the import film market, the price also rose all the way.
In order to ensure that good projects can be bought, mainland filmmakers have been laying out more and more in advance, even when the film only has a script outline. The industry has become more and more like gambling. Turning to the upstream of the industrial chain can also reduce the risk of introducing the film industry itself.
In 1999, the Indian government issued a decree allowing foreign capital to invest directly in the film industry. In 2001, the Decree was supplemented by a provision of up to 100 per cent for foreign investment.
This opened the prelude to the internationalization of Indian cinema. Mainland capital has also begun to gradually transform from a simple importer to a producer. Genesis Star is one of the producers of "Mysterious Superstar". Under its impetus, "Mysterious Superstar" was introduced to the mainland three months after its release in India, which is the shortest Indian film to be introduced to the mainland.
In India, Genesis Star and Indian Capital have formed a joint venture company KWAN, the largest agency in Bollywood, which controls about 80% of Bollywood's actors, directors, writers and producers. Hlynik Rothhan is also one of the company's full-time artists.
Indian cinema itself is also making adjustments. Hrinik Rohan told China Newsweek that when Indian movies come to China, almost all the cabarets are cut out, and there are few reservations.
The Tuner, released in early April, and Above the Clouds, released the other day, highlight the attempts of Indian cinema to internationalize, and neither of them is the typical Indian film that people have ever imagined.
"This year, I can roughly feel the whole picture of Indian cinema, unlike the previous films that only came in one genre, which does not represent the whole of Indian cinema." He Wei said.