looking forward to more joint projects, says Zhou Baolin, vice-president of the Chinese Film Cooperation limited. By Arpita Singh
After watching the universally acclaimed Indian coming-of-age-comedy drama, 3 Idiots, I came to know about one of the important aspects of cinema, that it can still be a mass educative tool,” said Yuan Yuan, the Chinese script writer of the film Go Away Mr Tumour, which was screened yesterday at the ongoing BRICS Film Festival 2016.
The cast and crew of the Chinese films, while discussing about their work, elaborated on the inspiration behind their movies. And the Indian inspiration taught them social responsibility. They also shared their experience while shooting their kind of films and were elated by their acceptance at the BRICS film festival.
Zhou Jiandong, Deputy Director General of the Film Bureau of China, while addressing the audience at the BRICS Film Festival press meet, said, “The Indian cinema is like an inspiration for the Chinese film industry.” That is why the Chinese government has sent around 40 delegates, he added.
“Filmmaking is not a cake walk and it takes years of struggle to complete a movie,” said Wu Yanyan, the Chinese producer of the film, Songs of the Phoenix, which reportedly took him two years to develop. Yuan Yuan added that he was happy his work had finally paid off as his film was recently screened at the North American Film Festival.
One of the other delegates from China, Huo Jianqi, director of the movie Xuan Zang, said his film would appeal to the commonality of the Indian and Chinese audience as it focusses on Buddhism. “last year when we had finished shooting in China, we came to India in July or August. We went to Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nalanda and Ajanta Caves for shooting,” Jianqi said.
“We got a tremendous support from the Indian side. We were amazed by the expertise that Indians have and how much technologically advanced India is,” he added. Jianqi shared that the only problem that he faced was humidity. “It is very hot here. It was very tough for us to shoot in the humid weather but Indians helped us a lot in making it possible. I had a very emotional experience shooting in India. It was a positive one,” Jianqi said.The historical adventure film stars Chinese actors Huang Xiaoming and Kent Tong. It also features Indian actors Sonu Sood, Ali Fazal and Neha Sharma.
Asked about the possibilities for an Indian producer to go to China and collaborate with a producer there, Jianqi said: “Indian films are really famous in China and are gaining popularity. In the 1960s, there was Raj Kapoor’s Awara. Now also films like 3 Idiots and PK are getting popular.”
“So the future is really bright and I hope that the problem of restriction on films will change very soon,” he added.
Jianqi said that Chinese believe that “Indians are very beautiful and good looking. We might be two different countries but our emotions are very similar. It’s difficult for me to forget the shooting experience that we had in India.”
Talking about more collaborations between India and China, Jianqi said, “The Chinese film industry has a long history of collaboration with Hollywood. That’s why that market is in a good shape right now. Chinese films have not been able to get better response in the Indian market. That’s because there is a lack of common grounds regarding topics and themes. Both the sides have larger side of population. We need more common topics to satisfy the audience on both the sides.”
The Chinese delegates are clearly keen to associate themselves with Indian cinema. Zhou Baolin, vice-president of the Chinese Film Cooperation limited, said, “We are planning to work in coordination with the Hindi film industry soon.” The conference concluded with hopes of enhancing the cinematic exposure of the BRICS nations among each other.
(with IANS)