Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival which is equivalent to the Filmfare awards in India happens to be one of the biggest and prominent awards in China. Organized by China Film Association, Government of China since the beginning in 1981, the awards are being organized in different provinces of China every year, while this time Xiamen province has been chosen to host the Award ceremony.
In an initiative to invite the Indian film fraternity to China, the Xiamen province delegation recently visited Mumbai to meet and greet with India China film society members. The delegation is headed by Mr.Ye Chong Geng Director-General and Standing Member of the People's Congress of Xiamen and Publicity Department of CPC. Mr.Ye Chong Geng gave interesting insights on his India visit in an interesting conversation with loudest.in.
About the key partners Mr.Chong Geng said, "The festival is hosted by the government of China and we have partnered with India China Film Society in India to promote the event here."
So how big are Indian films in China Mr.Chong Geng replied, "There are very few Indian films in China, but they are very popular amongst the Chinese audience, the films in Indian languages are given subtitles in Chinese regional languages, which are very popular amongst the Chinese people, Aamir Khan is the most famous Bollywood actor in China while last year actor Ajay Devgan also won the award in best foreign actor category for the film called 'Raid' in Golden Rooster Award."
[caption id="attachment_10141" align="aligncenter" width="560"]
L to R: Mr Kishore Jawade, CEO ICFS, Mr.Ye Chong Geng Head of Xiamen Delegation, Ms Wang Yanhua Deputy Consul general of the Consulate of the People's Republic of China, Mr.Girish Wankhede, ICFS Head Mr Nitin Sharma & Mr Lin Zongning[/caption]
The delegation called upon a seminar at the ICFS (India China film society) office whom they have partnered to promote the event in India and also visited Yash Raj studios in their two-day visit. India China film Society and Xiamen delegation discussed possibilities regarding the upcoming Golden Rooster Award as well as strategized on strengthening India china cultural relationship to prompt the film business and cultural exchange between the two countries.ICFS extended and assured the support to Xiamen delegation for connecting them with the Indian film industry while they appreciated the efforts for Xiamen delegation who visited India to invite for the upcoming award.
In the expected outcomes of the seminar, Mr.Chong Genge said, "We had a seminar with India China Film Society out of which we anticipate a fruitful achievement. This year we have selected one film 'Mulk' which will be part of the exhibition section of the film festival."
Talking to loudest.in International Film Head of ICFS - Mr Nitin Sharma said, "This initiative will increase trade and strengthen film culture in future between Xiamen province of China and Bollywood which, will, in turn, attract tourist to Mumbai, while the Bollywood film market shall also get a boost in Xiamen province from this association. The Xiamen delegation showed a presentation during the seminar about the states economic growth while we showed them a presentation about Bollywood. The whole concept is to promote art and culture between India and China."
Sharma gave a brief about the growth of Indian films in China saying, "After Dangal and Secret Superstar the Bollywood market has grown up around 40% more in China. Amongst the youth of China, Dangal has become a favourite movie and Aamir Khan is the favourite start in china. Today, there are 45000 screens in China and it is five times bigger than the Indian market. Due to limited overseas quota every year in China, only 4 Indian movies release on an average at the box office of China."
Shedding Light on the criteria of the Indian entry this year and the selection for films at the Golden Rooster Awards Sharma said," This time we are sending the film 'Mulk' produced by Mr.Kamal Mukut. The grand jury of CFA, China Film Association, wherein Jacky Chang is its Vice President, the Jury decides on the films based on criteria like the films content, story, direction, and editing, etc. There are nomination categories every year Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor Male, Best Story, and Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Directorial Debut."
India China film society hosted a welcome dinner in honour for Xiamen delegation at the residence of music legend Bhajan Samrat Padmashree Shri Anup Jalota a patron of ICFS which was a fun-filled greet and meets for the films and music fraternity.
Talking on his association with the initiative Anup Jalota said, "Our idea is to take Indian films, Indian culture and Indian music to the Chinese and Indian audience in China, which will help strength India china cultural relations. Also, it is helping to generate great business for Indian films in China as each of our films like Dangal has done nearly1000 crore , while secret superstar has done a business of 2000 crore breaking all records in China as our Indian actors are very popular there, which is helping our film industry in a big way."
Also present on the occasion was Ms Wang Yanhua Deputy Consul General Consulate General of The Peoples' Republic of China in Mumbai who met the ICFS delegation headed by Mr Kishor Jawade along with MD Mr Girish Wankhede and media head ICFS Mr Pritam Sharma, who were also present in the meet and greet.