Chinese mega star comes to India (and faces chaos)

Beijing

“I am having a breakdown” were the first words China’s most well-known movie star, Zhang Ziyi, tweeted when she landed in India. Zhang, who in China is by far the biggest name in the movie business, is in India to attend the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), a 10 day-long event that kicked off in Goa on Thursday.

Zhang’s tweets to her 21 million followers on Sina Weibo – the popular Chinese Twitter equivalent – describing her arrival in India set China’s social media buzzing on Thursday and Friday. She left Sanya, in China’s southern Hainan island province, flying to Shenzhen, and then Hong Kong, from where she boarded a six hour flight to Mumbai. (Travelling between India and China can be surprisingly difficult to arrange; there are only around 40 weekly direct flights linking the two countries, compared with more than 200 between China and South Korea.) After a five hour wait in Mumbai, Zhang and her entourage travelled to Goa. Not the best planned of journeys, but Zhang's troubles were just getting started.

On the way to her hotel in Goa, the vehicle sent by the organisers, Zhang tweeted, lost its way. “The driver first went the wrong way, then we had a flat tire,” she said. Zhang arrived at the hotel to find her room was far from ready. “It was still being refurbished! I went crazy!” Zhang also posted a photograph of the broken down vehicle sent to the airport to bring her luggage. “Look at the high-level car to carry my luggage, it is something used to transport animals!!”

If IFFI – which is India’s biggest film event – was hoping to present the best face of the country to its guests from the far corners of the world, then clearly it has work to do, at least according to Zhang’s account of her arrival in India.

Zhang's account, to be fair, was written more in humour rather than a complaint: She tweeted a photo of herself looking delighted in Indian clothes (which was promptly "liked" 8000 times). She even suggested Chinese director Xu Zheng, who made a hit comedy about travelling in Thailand, base his next film in India.

Breaking down barriers

This year’s festival does, however, deserve credit for taking a long-overdue first step in bringing together Indian and Chinese filmmakers. Acclaimed director Wong Kar-wai is being presented a lifetime achievement award, and his brilliant kungfu epic “TheGrandmaster” – which stars Zhang – will be the last film shown at IFFI.

The lack of engagement between Indian and Chinese film worlds has long been a source of sadness for many in China. Indian films were widely popular here in the 1970s – and were, in fact, often the only overseas films being shown in the cinema halls of Beijing. Beijing taxi drivers still serenade Indian visitors with passionate renditions of “Awaara”. China’s opening up to the West in the 1990s saw Hollywood films take primacy. Today, Indian and Chinese filmmaking communities are both looking at the West – and past each other.

I recently spoke with Chinese director Fan Lixin. He made a brilliant documentary in 2009, “Last Train Home”, telling the story of the hardships Chinese migrant workers. He reflected on how themes that inspire filmmakers such as himself would find particular resonance in India. “I can’t think of two countries with more similar experiences,” he said. He pointed to how Rajkumar Hirani’s “3 Idiots” became a cult hit in Chinese colleges, where students are just as pressured as their counterparts in India. Yet it took more than two years for “3 Idiots” to make it to Chinese screens. (And it still was profitable.)

At IFFI, a high-power Chinese delegation, led by State giants like the China Film Group, is on a first of its kind visit to India. Both countries have signed an agreement on co-productions, which could pave the way for more Indian films to make it to China (and avoid the 22 overseas films a year restriction in place on the mainland). Despite Zhang Ziyi’s rather uncomfortable entry into India, her visit will see small – but important - first steps being taken this week, in building bridges across the Himalayas.