Beijing:
As Aamir Khan’s blockbuster film ’PK’ gears up for its release in the multi-billion dollar Chinese market, director Rajkumar Hirani says the movie will be a great success in Communist China as its controversial religious theme can resonate well with the audience here.
Hirani, who was here to ensure that all legal formalities are completed, told Indian media that the officials and members of Chinese film industry approached the producers of ‘PK’ to get it released here.
“They saw the film and they themselves invited us here because of ‘3 Idiots’ success. They are giving us a 3,000 screen release which is as big as in India,” he said.
An agreement for the release of the Chinese version was made at a function in which Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K Kantha and top Chinese film officials were present.
The agreement was signed amid expectations that Beijing may permit more Indian films, considering the improved relations, especially on the cultural front, between the two countries.
Currently only 34 foreign films are permitted in China every year. Most of that quota is grabbed by top Hollywood films.
‘PK’ is expected to release in the next few months.
Hirani said Aamir and other top actors would try to visit China to facilitate the film’s commercial success.
The Chinese patrons of the film expect PK like the ‘Three Idiots’ too could become a major success in China as more and more Chinese people disenchanted by materialistic life are increasingly leaning towards a new genre of godmen and monks who are emerging all over the country.
Aamir is perhaps the most well known Indian film star in China in recent years as his ‘3 Idiots’ was a massive success.
Hirani said he was surprised that the controversy around ‘PK’ came later than he expected.
It came after ten days after its release, he said, adding that he faced similar protests when he made ‘Lageraho Munnabhai’, which some people thought was offensive to Mahatma Gandhi.
“People are intelligent enough to see. The protests seemed too big because of media and took place in few theatres”, he said adding that it was not as big as it was projected.
When asked about his view on the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine’s cartoonists as a protest against the alleged blasphemous cartoons, Hirani said he cannot comment on the sketches as he has not seen them.
The filmmaker, however, said nobody has right to kill someone because he has a different opinion. “Then we are living in stone age,” Hirani said.
“Let us be realistic about. We live in society people are sensitive about the beliefs. As far as ‘PK’ goes, we took a lot care to say what we wanted to say but without offending people,” he said.
