Bollywood’s heartthrob Aamir Khan has become the most followed Indian on Twitter’s Chinese clone, Weibo. His account, called ‘Amier Han’ in Mandarin, was created last month around the release of ‘Dangal’ in China and has over 6.5 lakh followers.
Notably, he surpassed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who created his account in 2015 ahead of his China visit and had 1.69 lakh followers.
The movie, which is known as “Let’s wrestle, Dad” in Mandarin, is based on a true story of two female wrestlers — and has gone on to become the highest-grossing Indian film ever in China.
The film has already made $100 million at the Chinese box office and Chinese internet users have nothing but praise for the film and for Aamir.
The hashtag #LetsWrestleDad started trending on Weibo, and was mentioned 25.8 million times on the site.
“I cried when I watched this film. Aamir Khan is such a great actor, I am a new fan,” said one user on Weibo.
“In order to play the character at age 19, 29 and 55 years old, Aamir Khan had to go from 140 pounds to 194 pounds and back to 144. He is so hardworking and dedicated. A true actor uses his life to show his art,” another user said.
China has typically not been part of the traditional foreign market for Indian movies, which usually target regions with large Indian populations such as the US, UK and UAE.
Perhaps Aamir’s success marks the beginning of more Bollywood hits in China.
Post Your Comments