Out Now - Rama Official Teaser - Ramayana - Page 26

Strange that you mention Dangal... it was one of the projects that got mentioned to me, too...but as you correctly stated, there is no verifiable truth one can get, so I didn't mention it (and also other projects, albeit not all from the filmindustry).

Also other Aamir movies like Secret Superstar and PK allegedly had been very successful in China as Aamir (again allegedly) has there a strong fan-basis.

However I don't know anybody who could verify that.

Originally posted by: Clochette

Strange that you mention Dangal... it was one of the projects that got mentioned to me, too...but as you correctly stated, there is no verifiable truth one can get, so I didn't mention it (and also other projects, albeit not all from the filmindustry).

Also other Aamir movies like Secret Superstar and PK allegedly had been very successful in China as Aamir (again allegedly) has there a strong fan-basis.

However I don't know anybody who could verify that.

That’s the thing. Those movies did decent business there but when you compare the numbers they make no sense whatsoever.

PK released in India in 2014 and in China in 2015. Secret Superstar did so in 2017 and 2018 in India and China respectively. PK allegedly made approximately 120 crores and SS made 750-800 crores in China alone.

PK is technically a better movie made on a bigger budget and with bigger names with Aamir himself as the main character. Secret Superstar is made by his production house and while he has a cameo in it, in no way his role so impactful that it can justify the numbers.

Take a look at the facts

PK releases in 2015, runs for approximately 6 weeks in China and makes 120 crores.

Dangal follows in 2017 makes approximately 10 times the amount in 2 months, barely 2/3 additional weeks per timeline with 1200-1300 crores.

Secret Superstar follows next year, run time in theatres is 8 weeks, again 2 months approximately and makes about 750-800 crores with Aamir just being a cameo. The movie did well in India but it wasn’t a rage even here in this proportion.

Thugs of Hindustan later in 2018 itself, just 2 weeks and makes 65 crores.

Same movies collections in the same order - 340, 387, 64 and 151 crores respectively.

Interestingly, since 2022 not a single Aamir Khan movie has released Laal in China. Apparently, no distributors were interested to buy rights for either Laal Singh Chaddha or even Sitaare Zameen Par.

Also, if you notice something you’re gonna see how the two movies doing huge business in China are both produced by AK himself under his banner. While when movies are produced by other production houses namely PK and ToH, where Aamir is merely an actor but not involved as a producer, the difference in collections is quite noticeable.

It’s as if the Chinese care about those movies in those years only when Aamir himself is producing them… like it makes any difference to them…

If that’s not fishy I don’t know what is…

It’s as if suddenly post demonitisation, Aamir’s movies were a rage in China for the successive years. But they suddenly go irrelevant and don’t even merit a release. It’s as if… cash hoarded abroad was recalled to replace the cash lost in demonetisation. Once the money was transferred completely, the sudden surge of Aamir Khan’s movies in China suddenly dies down, just as it suddenly began.

This has been the suspicion...including that Aamir/his ph got used because of a certain character trait he himself seemingly has... (shown 2015)

However, no factual proof surfaced... so, it is more or less a logical speculation.

Originally posted by: Clochette

This has been the suspicion...including that Aamir/his ph got used because of a certain character trait he himself seemingly has... (shown 2015)

However, no factual proof surfaced... so, it is more or less a logical speculation.

Yep, there’s no paper trail or witnesses to corroborate the story that seems like a straight up money laundering scam.

The money was “white washed”, a certain amount was paid as legal tax and that’s it. The process is smooth and efficient, not like we can’t deploy Dhurandhars in China to find out what the real source of these collections was. It maybe possible that we know exactly what happened and how it did, but to establish a credible link between the relevant parties is the main cruncher.

But something tells me, we have an made a sort of understanding with the Chinese government itself, behind the scenes, which explains why post 2022, no such Indian movie has been such a massive hit in China.

Let’s see how well Ramayana does there and in other territories. That’s honestly gonna be an interesting avenue to keep an eye on.

I suppose that nothing will replicate what happened with Dangal (and to disguise it) with following Aamir movies. Other ways have been found, I suppose.

I remember having read that Aamir was the first one of the '3 Khans' to venture into the Chinese market (with Lagaan), so - with the way he exposed himself during the intolerance debate - he was the easiest to get exploited, I think.

The current Ramayana is another kind of exploitation, imo. It may have nothing to do with the very soul of Indian culture.

Originally posted by: Clochette

I suppose that nothing will replicate what happened with Dangal (and to disguise it) with following Aamir movies. Other ways have been found, I suppose.

I remember having read that Aamir was the first one of the '3 Khans' to venture into the Chinese market (with Lagaan), so - with the way he exposed himself during the intolerance debate - he was the easiest to get exploited, I think.

The current Ramayana is another kind of exploitation, imo. It may have nothing to do with the very soul of Indian culture.

Oh there’s nothing to exploit when you’re willing to give inflammatory statements for a party that you don’t prefer by conveniently ignoring the facts behind one of the worst riots the country has seen. When you have links with Turkey which is hand in glove with Pakistan. When you can make a show called Satyamev Jayate which highlights many issues within the country that range across topics which include faith based practices that are evil, but never include any segment, let alone a whole episode on topics that can be from your own religion and any other Abrahamic religion. Absolutely nothing to exploit at all when you can shamelessly call a whole country intolerant where you have enjoyed superstardom for decades by that point. How does a country make a man whom they hate allegedly a superstar?

Willing collaboration is not exploitation.

I have a personal problem with this man owing to him supporting that vile woman Medha Patkar in her movement against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. Apparently it was bad for the environment all along, which this genius scientist had the merits to certify. He and that woman tried their level best to deprive the people of Kutch and the surrounding areas of Gujarat of a basic life necessity as water. To give you some context - Kutch is the largest district of India and my ancestors hail from there. I have seen the difference between the two eras when we went to Gujarat, we couldn’t even get decent national highways and women had to suffer from immense back pain and other problems just to collect and store water as it wasn’t always available via the tap in their home regardless of the connections being set up to the era where Gujarat has one of the best roadways in the country, the water issue is not as grave as it once was and electricity is available 24/7. This protest was held in 2006, approximately 5 years after the worst earthquake that the country has seen in nearly 2 centuries hit Kutch and killed thousands if not lakhs and caused the kind of destruction that was unfathomable to even imagine.

Imagine doing a protest that denies the victims who have survived one of the worst disasters in modern history something as essential as water.

Happy to encounter in you another person that makes me learn about things I didn't get to know (e.g. about the water problem)...although through my Indian friends in India, in Germany and other countries i get to know a variety of what happens in India.

As this thread isn't about Aamir, I don't want to elaborate more on him.

Anyways, even with Ramayana, there clearly is something 'fishy' going on... sadly...

I only know the Ramayana through books as I couldn't (yet) watch the TV series or the Japonaise version, Yet the feelings the reading gave me I don't find in the snippets of the VFX version...

Is this here the version members wrote about? The old TV one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG3Hqth0Eus

Originally posted by: Clochette

Happy to encounter in you another person that makes me learn about things I didn't get to know (e.g. about the water problem)...although through my Indian friends in India, in Germany and other countries i get to know a variety of what happens in India.

As this thread isn't about Aamir, I don't want to elaborate more on him.

Anyways, even with Ramayana, there clearly is something 'fishy' going on... sadly...

People in India and even abroad who haven’t seen the kind of difference that the state has undergone in the past 2 decades mock that Gujarat keeps reelecting BJP - but those who have seen the difference, like me and I don’t even stay there regularly - know why that’s happening in Gujarat. People have seen not just a lack of basic amenities with water supply issues, electricity issues especially in remote villages where you would get barely 4 hours of electricity sometimes in a day or when things improved, there would be load shedding, as in electricity being cut off for 8 hours to 12 hours everyday but also the complete incompetence of the government when it comes to handling riots and rioters.

Modi came to power in Gujarat after the then BJP CM was proving incapable of handling the aftermath of the Kutch earthquake. Read up about it if you don’t know how horrific it was and how it’s the worst earthquake of 2 centuries in the subcontinent, Vajpayee, the then PM entrusted Gujarat to Modi. Within months of the disaster, where reconstruction and rehabilitation hadn’t even started yet, the Godhra riots broke out. A newly appointed CM is handling both these things and then, when he’s entrusted with a second term, the Sardar Sarovar Dam protests happen to obstruct the development of Gujarat. How can making a dam that supplies water to lakhs of people be a bad thing? But Aamir Khan, Medha Patkar and the likes tried their best to obstruct the project. I have disliked this man ever since. His anti Modi and anti BJP remarks weren’t my issue - my issue was this.

It tells you a lot that Modi’s first two terms were about providing basic facilities like toilets and water supply issues, piped gas or LPG cylinders across India. We got independence in 1947, he came to power in 2014. That’s literally 67 years after independence and nearly 7 decades into it. We still hadn’t managed to give our citizens these basic facilities that are the bare minimum that a government should provide.

Originally posted by: Clochette

I only know the Ramayana through books as I couldn't (yet) watch the TV series or the Japonaise version, Yet the feelings the reading gave me I don't find in the snippets of the VFX version...

Is this here the version members wrote about? The old TV one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG3Hqth0Eus

Yes, this is the OG. The one that continues to enchant people even 4 decades later.

The VFX quality is outdated and may look childish but the writing, performances and the excellent music will more than make up for it. Give it a shot and you’ll probably love it. I believe there are subtitles for those who don’t understand Hindi well enough.