Bollywood eyes China as big partner

Indian filmmakers at this year's "Bollywood Oscars" weekend in Macau are looking beyond the lucrative market of Hollywood, into what they consider to be an even more exciting partner: China.

The selection of this southern Chinese territory as host of this year's International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) underlines Bollywood's desire to work closer with its Chinese counterpart.

Sabbas Joseph, director of the event --an annual star-studded extravaganza celebrating the prolific Hindi movie industry -- said many subjects tackled by cinema appeal to both Indian and Chinese audiences because of their common values and traditions.

"I think the Hollywood-Bollywood coming together is logical. China and India coming together is the more exciting part, because we are probably the two most exciting economies in the world," he told AFP during the three-day event attended by hundreds of India's biggest stars.

"We have one third of the world's population, if together we become a combined (audience) and a combined production force, I think it will open up new markets and vistas."

Veteran Bollywood film critic Taran Adash said the collaboration was long-awaited. "The sheer thought of China and India working together gives me a high," he told AFP.

China's technology, actors, and martial arts were "way ahead" of their Indian counterparts, and many Chinese films that were dubbed into Indian languages proved to be highly popular in India, he said.

Last year, China's nationwide box office receipts hit a record 4.2 billion yuan (610 million US), up 27 percent from 2007, thanks to a growing audience of well-off young urbanites and an increase in big-ticket Chinese films.

And the trend seems to have continued into 2009 amid the economic downturn, according to the latest figures from the State Administration for Film, Television and Radio.

In the first three months of 2009, box office receipts jumped more than 50 percent to 1.25 billion yuan.

However, China-India crossover films are still in their infancy. "Chandni Chowk to China", co-produced by Bollywood veteran Ramesh Sippy and US studio Warner Bros., bombed at the box office after opening in January.

The movie, about a lowly Indian chef who is mistaken for the reincarnation of a fabled Chinese warrior, was given thumbs down by Indian viewers and critics alike, despite being the first Hindi film to be shot on location in China.

"The two cultures are similar but really not that similar," Fred Wang, chairman of Hong Kong-based production company Salon Films and a speaker at the IIFA forum on the future of the Indian and Chinese film industries, told AFP.

"To start with, China had closed its door to the West for many years, while India is a former British colony."

He said much more needed to be done in the research of storylines and urged the two governments and film groups to set up an investment fund for such a purpose.

Wang said his company, which has helped distribute many Hollywood films in Asia, is working on a movie on buddhism targeting both Chinese and Indian markets.

He said he was confident the film would fare well, given that the religion originated from India and has spread widely to China.

However, even with a good story to tell, Bollywood filmmakers have to break through the barriers of China's highly-regulated film market.

The Chinese movie industry is protected by a quota system which only allows around 20 foreign films to be screened a year, and permission for foreign companies to shoot in the country could be difficult to obtain.

"It will take maybe three failures and just one success for it to break through. There are quite a few conversations and efforts for collaboration between the two sides. We are all waiting for the big news," Joseph said.