Chennai: After ‘Bahubali 2’, Rajnikanth starer ‘2.0’ also ends up being a disaster in China, which could be a serious setback to mainstream cinema’s ongoing attempt to foray that market.
Director Shankar’s ‘2.0’, starring superstar Rajnikanth and Akshay Kumar had done spectacular domestic business in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions. However, the film opened on September 6 in China and floppd miserably. ‘2.0’ collected a meagre Rs 22 crore in its first week in the Chinese market.
The failure of ‘2.0’ follows the no-show of another domestic record buster – “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion”. The SS Rajamouli starring Prabhas managed around Rs 52 crore after releasing in May 2018, running to near-empty Chinese theatres.
The rejection of these out-and-out entertainers has come as a shock considering Bollywood commercial films, where as films like “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, “Dangal”, “AndhaDhun”, “Secret Superstar” and “English Medium” had done splendid business, which made most in the film trade feel that a new market had opened up for mainstream Indian movies.
The writing is very clear on the Great Wall of China. Do not try to impress the Chinese audience with Indian FX-driven spectacular films. These will invariably fall short of the standards the Chinese are used to.
Curated by Aditya Nayak
