Chinese director Huo Jianqi, who came to India to shoot for India-Chinese co-production film “Xuan Zang“, says shooting in India was an emotional experience for him.
Jianqi is in India for the first BRICS Film Festival, where “Xuan Zang” was screened on Sunday.
“Last year when we had finished shooting of ‘Xuan Zang’ in China, we came to India in July or August. We went to Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nalanda and Ajanta Caves for shooting,” Jianqi said at a panel discussion titled “BRICS Co-production: The Way Forward” on Monday.
“We got a tremendous support from the Indian side. We were amazed by the expertise that Indians have and how much technologically advanced India is,” he added.
Jianqi shared that the only problem that he faced was the humidity.
“It is very hot here. It was very tough for us to shoot in the humid weather, but Indians helped us a lot in making it possible. I had a very emotional experience shooting in India. It was a positive one,” Jianqi said.
The historical adventure film stars Chinese actors Huang Xiaoming and Kent Tong. It also features Indian actors Sonu Sood, Ali Fazal and Neha Sharma.
Asked about the possibilities for an Indian producer to go to China and collaborate with a producer there, Jianqi said: “Indian films are really famous in China and are gaining popularity. In the 1960s, there was Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’. Now also films like ‘3 Idiots’ and ‘PK’ are getting popular.”
“So the future is really bright and I hope that the problem of restriction on films will change very soon,” he added.
Jianqi said that Chinese believe that “Indians are very beautiful and good looking”.
“We might be two different countries, but our emotions are very similar. It’s difficult for me to forget the shooting experince that we had in India,” he added.
Talking about more collaborations between India and China, Jianqi said: “Chinese film industry has a long history of collaboration with Hollywood. That’s why that market is in a good shape right now.
“Chinese films have not been able to get better response in the Indian market. That’s because there is a lack of common grounds regarding topics and themes. Both the sides have larger side of population.”
He said to make more films between India and Pakistan. “We need to find these types of common topics more to satisfy audiences on both the sides”.
The first edition of the BRICS Film Festival will come to an end on Tuesday.
