<i>Dhoom 3</i> in China: Bollywood set for biggest global release

Film to open at 2,000 screens in 400 Chinese cities on July 25 in an attempt to tap the difficult market behind the Great Wall

Bollywood is ready to take China by storm. Yash Raj Films is set to create history by releasing its film Dhoom 3 across 2,000 screens in more than 400 Chinese cities. The film will be dubbed in Mandarin and released on July 25.

This will be the biggest release of a film from India in the international market. Films such as Krrish 3 and Chennai Express were released at 700 to 750 screens across global markets. They were released at 300-350 screens in the US alone.

Yash Raj Films has tied up with HGC Entertainment, a Chinese distribution company specialising in bringing foreign film content to China and distributing it. It brings two to three foreign films to China a year.

The Chinese market is not an easy one to crack for global film-makers. The China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (the body that governs the entertainment industry) has capped the number of overseas releases in the country at 34 a year so that local films are encouraged . Of these, almost 90 per cent are Hollywood films. Indian films find it difficult to make a dent in this market.

Avtar Panesar, who heads international distribution for Yash Raj Films, says, "These non-traditional markets only take on a film when you can convince your local partner there that it could be mutually worthwhile." He agrees that marketing and advertising spends are always an issue when one covers such a large country.

Bollywood content has not been able to breach the Great Wall and enter Chinese cinemas very often. In the 1950s, Raj Kapoor's Aawara caught the fancy of Chinese movie-goers, but in the ensuing years, the country's stringent measures restricted any more cinematic exports.

In the past 10-12 years, however, some films have had a peek at the China market. Starting with Lagaan, released in China in 2002, Bollywood entertained Chinese audiences with films such as 3 Idiots, My Name is Khan, Chennai Express and Krrish 3. However, the scale of these movies was modest - playing at a small number of screens across 12-15 cities.

Bollywood is slowly breaking into non-traditional markets. Lunch Box, which did not set the domestic box office on fire, made more money abroad in new markets France, Germany and Belgium apart from Japan. It surprised trade analysts that the film made box office collections of Rs 27.22 crore in France alone - as much as its gross collection in the domestic market.

Taran Adarsh, film critic and box office analyst, says, "This is a massive leap for taking Indian film content overseas. China is a very difficult market to crack and Yash Raj has managed a feat. If the content clicks, it will open many doors for Indian cinema. In fact, this scale is comparable to that of some of the Hollywood films that release there."

Dhoom 3 hit cinemas on December 20 last year and took the box office by storm, garnering Rs 100 crore in the opening weekend. It entered the Rs 200-crore club within three weeks. Internationally, too, the film broke records by collecting Rs 61 crore in its first weekend. It made a total collection of Rs 165 crore in overseas markets.