Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja to release in China on Nov 29; first Indian film to hit Chinese screens post border thaw

Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja to be released in China: Tamil blockbuster movie Maharaja is making history as it is slated to debut in China on November 29. The premiere of Vijay Sethupathi’s movie in Xi Jinping’s nation will mark a landmark moment as it is the first Indian movie to be released in China after the normalisation of ties between the two nations.

The development comes after the two nations resolved a four-year-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh and finalised an agreement on patrolling and disengaging troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Marking a breakthrough in bilateral relations, the film’s release is expected to pave the way for increased cultural exchange and collaboration between the film industries of the two nations.

Maharaja is scheduled for release across 40,000 screens in China. The movie has already surpassed the ₹4-crore mark in four days of pre-screenings across China, according to film trade analyst Ramesh Bala.

Notably, Maharaja minted ₹1.09 crore on the first day of previews with more than 20,000 footfalls, while on the second day, it collected ₹1.26 crore. Its official Friday release coincides with two major competitors, including the highly anticipated Hollywood sequel Gladiator II and the local Chinese film Her Story.

Commenting on Maharaja’s performance, Douban film critic Wang Peiyu said that the film’s strength lies in its distinctive cultural expression and unique narrative techniques, reported Global Times.

“As a suspense film, it uses editing techniques to cleverly conceal the key actions of the protagonist, interspersing numerous subplots to confuse the audience,” Wang Peiyu said as he noted that the movie creates a feeling of simultaneity and carefully constructs a labyrinthine narrative.

Directed by Nithilan Saminathan, the movie debuted on the big screen in India on June 14 this year. Alongside Vijay Sethupathi’s, its star cast features Anurag Kashyap, Mamta Mohandas, Natarajan Subramaniam, Abhirami Gopikumar, Divyabharathi, Singampuli, Aruldoss, Munishkanth, Sachana Namidass, Manikandan and Bharathiraja in key roles.

The Tamil-language action thriller film was jointly produced by The Route, Think Studios, and Passion Studios. The plot revolves around a humble barber named Maharaja. The film set in Chennai shows the barber visiting a police station to reclaim his stolen dustbin.