China and Pakistan call each other ‘strategic partners’, and they cooperate on a range of issues, including defense, economy, infrastructure, and even space programs. Now, the two countries seem to have expanded their cooperation into one more field: ‘Bollywood Bashing’.
Islamabad has for years complained about Bollywood and Pakistan’s portrayal in its films. Bollywood movies have been banned in Pakistan for most of its history, except for a brief period between 2008 and 2019.
However, despite the formal ban, Bollywood movies have found their way into Pakistan through widespread piracy, and Bollywood films, as well as actors, are hugely popular in Pakistan.
A case in point is the Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar, which is set in Pakistan and shows the country as a hub of international terrorism, crime, fake currency, and endemic gang wars.
Islamabad led the charge against the movie, and even the Gulf countries, one of the largest overseas markets for Bollywood films, refused to release the movie over its supposedly anti-Pakistan content.
However, notwithstanding this ban, the movie is extremely popular in Pakistan. One only needs to look at the number of memes and social media commentary in Pakistan about this movie to realise its popularity there.
Now, it seems that China is also developing a similar love-hate relationship with Bollywood, and the trigger is Salman Khan’s upcoming movie, The Battle of Galwan, based on the India-China border skirmish in June 2020, which led to fatalities on both sides.
China’s Love-Hate Relationship With Bollywood
Cinemas in China are tightly controlled, and only a limited number of foreign films are screened there each year.
The China Film Administration reviews every foreign movie minutely for objectionable content.
Films must pass ideological, political, and moral standards before their screening in China. Any foreign movie that seems to undermine China’s national unity, promote separatism, criticise China’s ruling Communist Party in any way, or touch upon the sensitive issues of political and human rights in Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang, faces a blanket ban.
Only movies deemed politically and culturally safe receive the Film Public Screening Permit required for theatrical release.
Despite these many hurdles and censorship and checks, over the years, not only were several Bollywood movies released in China, but many of them became instant hits, often generating intense discussions and debates on Chinese social media, such as Weibo.
For instance, movies like Dangal, 3 Idiots, PK, Secret Superstar, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Pad Man, and English Vinglish were massive hits in China and received critical acclaim.
In 2023, China’s state-run Global Times said in a commentary that a shared culture between India and China helps make Bollywood movies successful in China.
“The similarities in culture in Indian films mean they are able to resonate with Chinese audiences more easily, making Bollywood films an important channel for people-to-people exchanges between China and India. Shared topics that have gained attention in both countries cover education, family and personal growth,” wrote the Global Times.
However, just two years after this piece celebrated the success of Indian films in China, another article in the same Global Times has now criticised Bollywood for its allegedly “over the top” and “factually incorrect” movies.
The article also dismissed Bollywood as “entertainment-driven,” “emotionally charged,” and “cinematic exaggeration.”
The trigger is Salman Khan’s upcoming movie ‘The Battle of Galwan.’
“Salman Khan, best known to Chinese audiences as the lead actor in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is often teased by Chinese netizens for playing roles that appear too invincible, with plots too simplistic, and visual effects so exaggerated that make the drama seem unreal,” said the commentary piece published in the Global Times.
Citing an unidentified Chinese expert, the article said that “Bollywood films at most provide an entertainment-driven, emotionally charged portrayal, but no amount of cinematic exaggeration can rewrite the history or shake the PLA’s determination to defend China’s sovereign territory.”
The movie’s teaser has also sparked heated discussions on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
A Weibo user under the handle “Qingning Riyue v” commented that the Indian ‘over-the-top’ film seriously contradicts the facts.
Another Weibo user, “Situka 98,” mocked the film and the related media hype, saying, “When history falls short, Bollywood steps in.”
Global Times also quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, who said that India’s use of films, especially Bollywood productions, to stir nationalistic sentiment is unsurprising and reflects a deeply rooted cultural and political tradition.
“No matter how ‘over-the-top’ a drama may be, a nation’s sacred territory will never be affected by a film,” Song added.
“The film’s theme and timing are inappropriate, as it presents only a one-sided Indian narrative and stokes antagonistic sentiment, at a time when China-India relations have only recently shown hard-won signs of easing,” Lan Jianxue, director of the Department of Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, was quoted as saying by the Global Times.
How a 72-second-long teaser for a movie that will only be released four months later, in April 2026, has triggered Chinese social media and even its state-run media is beyond comprehension, especially because this is not the first time Bollywood has made a nationalistic movie about India-China conflicts.
Consider, for instance, that just last month, a Bollywood movie, 120 Bahadur, was released, based on the famous 1962 India-China battle of Rezang La in the Ladakh region, not far from where the Galwan battle took place.
Similarly, in 2018, the movie Paltan was released, which was based on the 1967 Nathu La and Cho La clashes in Sikkim between India and China.
Earlier in 1964, Haqeeqat portrayed the 1962 India-China War.
However, none of these films generated such heated discussions in China. One possible explanation is that while all the earlier movies were based on events that happened more than half a century earlier, Salman Khan’s upcoming film is based on the Galwan clash that happened just five years ago and is still fresh in people’s minds.
Regardless, the tone of criticism in the Chinese media underscores China’s lack of understanding of how popular media works in India.
Since almost all media in China, including the Global Times, are state-controlled, Beijing fails to understand that in India, Bollywood operates mainly on the logic of entertainment and commercial success.
The government of India has no role in Bollywood movies, their screenplays or storylines, or their release dates. Furthermore, ‘over the top’ nationalistic movies are not exclusive to Bollywood. Both Hollywood and the Chinese film industry are replete with such hyper-nationalistic movies.
‘The Eight Hundred’ (based on the 1937 Battle of Shanghai), ‘Tunnel Warfare’ and ‘Mine Warfare’ (both based on Chinese resistance to Japanese troops during the Second World War), ‘City of Life and Death’ (based on 1937 Nanjing Massacre and Chinese resistance) are just some of the nationalistic movies made in China on historical events.
The Japanese side may not agree with everything shown in these movies.
Rather than berating Bollywood, China should respond with its own movie on the Battle of Galwan, if it so wishes.
Anyway, given the strict control over foreign movies in China, there is zero chance that Salman Khan’s film will play on any screen there. The Global Times should not lose any sleep over Bollywood.
