Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 28, 2016)

When Chinese filmmaker-actor Wang Baoqiang decided to set the sequel to his 2012 action-comedy, Lost In Thailand, in India, he wanted to recreate the Bull King from the 1995 Hong Kong fantasy-comedy, A Chinese Odyssey. "It's the first time that a non-Chinese man is up to play the Bull King," reveals Karnal-based actor Vikramjeet Virk, who was selected from over 200 models. "I was told that the look would be similar to Gerard Butler's in 300 so I underwent rigorous bodybuilding training and was asked to grow out my beard, moustache and hair," says the six-foot-three actor.

Titled Buddies In India, over 60 per cent of the Christmas release was shot in Rajasthan over a three-month schedule beginning February. "The Bull King is large and fierce but also has a quirky, humorous and protective side," Virk says, adding that choreographer Chinni Prakash known for the Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone song, "Lungi Dance" from Chennai Express, was flown down to Jodhpur to re-create a similar song.

"Mirchi" has the Bull King announcing a chilli eating competition in his kingdom. There are over 300 Chinese and Indians who eat, dance and celebrate with the winner. "It wasn't easy to film in 50-52 degrees in Jodhpur on an outdoor set with a Chinese crew. But they were an extremely professional unit," says Virk, adding that after all day rehearsals the shot would wrap up within 30 minutes.

The Bull King's entry was one of the final shots in which Virk jumps from a 30-feet pedestal on a set with 10-15 bull statues and paintings. And the director, Wang was sure Virk would either crashland or break the stage.

"When I did the jump in the first take, everybody cheered and Wang, for the first time, laughed and threw a party with his new Indian friends instead of continuing with the shoot," Virk signs off with a laugh.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 13, 2015)

Aamir Khan's alien adventure, PK, is all set to scale the Great Wall of China. The film will have one of the widest releases in the country on May 22, opening in over 3500 screens. Before that, it will premiere today at Shanghai Art Center, the biggest 1200-seater theatre in the city, where the Hollywood sc-fi drama, Interstellar, was unveiled earlier. This will be followed by a special screening in Beijing.

The Chinese Aamir Khan Fan Club, with 100,000-plus members, has been invited to the premiere. Post the screening, Aamir Khan, along with producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and director Rajkumar Hirani will attend a press event. Also present will be a few local actors, including superstar Wang Baoqiang, who has dubbed Aamir's lines for the Chinese version. Like Aamir, Wang is as big a star there, with a string of boxoffice hits to his credit, including Lost in Thailand, the highest grossing Chinese movie. Incidentally, PK is the highest grossing Indian film.

Aamir, Chopra and Hirani reached China earlier to flag off an aggressive four-day promotional campaign across the country. Says Amrita Pandey of UTV, "Since China is one of the biggest markets outside India but still relatively new to Hindi cinema, it was important to push the film there. Fortunately, both Aamir and Raju Hirani have a huge following amongst the locals with multiple fan clubs in existence post the phenomenal success of 3 Idiots in Hong Kong and China."

They have been in talks with and met the China Film Group even before the film released in India and worldwide on December 19, 2014. Amrita was at the Indian embassy in Beijing for the Republic Day celebrations where they met several dignitaries and locals who were excited about the film.

"The emotional thread of the story, along with the endearing innocence of Aamir's character and Raju's filmmaking grammar, resonated with them. They've been looking forweard to the Chinese relesase since the last six months. This is an exciting development not just for our film but the Hindi film industry in general," she asserts.