Entertainment
Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu Yoga dominates Foreign Box Office
Jackie Chan, Sonu Sood starrer “Kung Fu Yoga” faced a lot of criticism in India for showing offensive stereotyping and outdated concept despite the collaboration attempt between China and India. (Photo: 成龍 Jackie Chan/Facebook)
NEW DELHI—Jackie Chan, Sonu Sood starrer “Kung Fu Yoga” faced a lot of criticism in India for showing offensive stereotyping and outdated concept despite the collaboration attempt between China and India.
A box office dud in India, international star Jackie Chan and Bollywood actor’s action-comedy movie “Kung Fu Yoga” is raking moolah with a robust $ 140 million earnings so far in China alone. The global earnings reportedly stands close to $ 178 million.
Aimed at enhancing more people-to-people cooperation between India and China, the movie is part of the co-production agreement signed in 2014 to unite the two of the largest film markets in Asia. The movie has not only turned to be a flop, but is also facing criticism over showcasing out-dated concept and perpetuating stereotypes.
More than box office moolah, the action-comdey flick is about the union of two of the largest film markets of Asia – China and India.
In the film’s plot, Chan is reprising the role of an archaeology professor partnering with Bollywood’s sood to search a lost treasure in Tibet. The movie has been directed by Rumble in the Bronx director Stanley Tong, who, as quoted in the media, wanted to “marry … the film traditions of China and India”.
The movie, however, has faced repeated hurdles with its attempt to promote bonhomie marred when an Indian stakeholder Viacom 18 pulled out of the project in 2015 amid rumors that they were not being side-lined.
A number of Indian critics also dubbed it a “bizarre interpolation of what sounds like Chinese government propaganda into the film’s dialogue, when Chan’s character is asked by an official to help the Belt and Road initiative.
“The Belt and Road initiative” is looked with suspicion in India among many hawkish observers who view it as Chinese ploy to expand their dominance across Asia.
